


how to fall in love with your enemy while stealing a child

by damianwayne



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Bonding, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Tags will be added, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 1950-07-01
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-06-02 10:24:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19439533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damianwayne/pseuds/damianwayne
Summary: Bobby had no idea how he ended up stealing a child in Germany. Or how he ended up pretending to be happily married to his enemy. But somehow he was enjoying it more than he would've liked to and maybe, justmaybe, Daken wasn't as bad as he thought.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> So after thinking about this fic for a long time, I was scared of getting them OOC (which I probably will) but hey, I have to start somewhere, right?
> 
> I was thinking about Raze and that's how I got the fic idea! For those who don't know in All New X-Men #27-29 Raze (who is Mystique's son) from the future comes back to their time to fight them essentially. In main verse time raze is a baby, so yeah 616 mystique got a kid with logan and I love him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after thinking about this fic for a long time, I was scared of getting them OOC (which I probably will) but hey, I have to start somewhere, right?
> 
> I was thinking about Raze and that's how I got the fic idea! For those who don't know in All New X-Men #27-29 Raze (who is Mystique's son) from the future comes back to their time to fight them essentially. In main verse time raze is a baby, so yeah 616 mystique got a kid with logan and I love him.

Ah, school spirit.

A lot of times when Bobby watched the kids at the academy play sports he was thinking about how they weren’t that different from other children their age. They were also just having fun, playing games and throwing balls, enjoying themselves on the school’s fields. He wished other people could see the children like that. Carefree and harmless, nothing to fear for. Of course, no matter how harmless they seemed on the field, the outside world didn’t look as kindly on them. Just one of them had to slip and accidentally use their powers, throw a ball too hard or too far, for them to be immediately feared or judged.

It was a good thing the Avengers Academy kids weren’t like that so they still had bi-annual games. These kids here though? They’d never agree to play a friendly match with the kids at the Academy.

Even though they weren’t that much different.

Hank used to be a star football player, as far as Bobby knew. He had told them about it, back then when they were the first class at the Academy. Bobby however got his powers pretty early. Stayed on the low because of it. Besides, he was sure he wouldn’t even have fit in on the football team. He wasn’t exactly football player material.

The people around them suddenly jumped up and cheered. Bobby realized he hadn’t been paying enough attention and he clapped his hands to play along. Next to him, Kitty raised her eyebrows.

"What?" Bobby replied, giving her a slight smile.

She rolled her eyes but her lips were turned upwards and she turned her attention back to the field. Bobby glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. Her brown hair was tugged in underneath a purple baseball cap, it fit in with all the other people around them as well. The color of the High School they were at was purple, Bobby even wore one of the jerseys to fit in. A few of her brown curls fell down over her face. It was getting longer again, almost back to her usual length. There once had been a time, when Bobby would’ve tucked it behind her ear and earned a shy smile back from her.

That was a long time ago when he had still been trying to be someone he wasn’t.

"How do you think our boy is doing?" Bobby asked.

Kitty waved around the bottle of water she was holding. "It’s almost halftime," she said, "should we risk it?"

Bobby looked over to the field again. There was the reason they were even here, in this random normal High School. A boy named Kevin Carter, a mutant they’ve heard things about. Nobody knew, of course, they wouldn’t let him play as the quarterback on the team otherwise. They would’ve chased him off the field despite being their star player.

Bobby pressed his lips together. "He seems to have his powers under control," he said.

"There has to be a reason Cerebro sent us," Kitty said, "better stepping in earlier before it’s too late. I don’t think it’s a good idea if we let him finish playing the game. There are many people here."

They were surrounded by families, faculty and students, all gathered here to watch the game between these two schools.

Kitty adjusted her cap, pulling down a bit further. "I’ll talk to him alone. We don’t want to freak him out." She turned to him. "Stay close in case something happens."

Bobby nodded. "You sure you can do this?"

Kitty responded with a smile. "You know it’s not my first time," she said. Bobby chuckled softly.

"Yeah, but it had gone wrong way too many times," he said.

She sighed at the words and waved her hand. "Let’s just say, we need to expect the worst. Be careful."

"Always am, you know it," Bobby said. He tipped his cap and winked in response and Kitty laughed and shoved him lightly with her shoulder against his.

Sometimes Bobby wished they could always be like this. Not just for him in Kitty in particular, but for he and his friends. Just going to a football game, enjoying it without having to put on a disguise and pull your caps down to be careful people didn’t recognize you. To not have every game interrupted because something happened and some super villain decided to crash or mutant haters to throw things at them.

That was just sometimes though.

* * *

  
  


Bobby watched the people closely while Kitty was seeking out the star player and mutant Kevin Carter to talk to him. Bobby was sure the guy was going to freak out any minute. How else would you react when a famous X-Men appeared and wanted to talk about your mutation when you’ve tried your best to hide it? Especially when you were in the middle of a game? One that would’ve determined the rest of your life, with college scouts watching?

Okay, it was going to change the guy’s life in one way or the other anyway.

Bobby thought he had been prepared for anything. For Kevin to freak out, for the people around them to scream and run away, for him having to calm the boy down and fight in case he lashes out on them.

But he didn’t expect to see a familiar face among the crowd. 

Maybe he was wrong. That couldn’t be— no. The guy was dead. Besides, what were the chances? And many people looked like Daken. 

Bobby swallowed hard when he checked the other male on the other side of the field for a second time. It was a lie, many people looking like Daken that is. There wasn’t anyone who looked like him. Bobby would recognize Logan’s son everywhere. Nobody had such a stupid haircut that still made him look good which was kind of frustrating.

Daken hadn’t noticed him yet, he was walking past the people who were too busy talking and paying attention to the band’s song to actually notice there was a certain villain among them. A villain, that was what he was after all.

Kitty had told him to stay close but Bobby had to go after him. Why was he here? Maybe he was trying to get to Kevin as well? It wouldn’t be the first time Daken went one of their students.

Bobby clenched his fist. Daken disappeared in the school building. He had to go after him or he’d miss him. He turned to look over his shoulder. Bobby couldn’t see Kitty but nothing bad has happened yet. Besides, he was sure she could handle it herself. She’d understand and would’ve done the smae.

These people here, they weren’t in danger because Kevin might lash out due to not being able to control his powers yet. No, they were in danger because Daken was here and  _ he  _ knew exactly how to control his powers. 

Bobby knew what he had to do. He followed Daken into the school building. Everything was dark but as he walked down the halls, the lights slowly one by one lit up. Now, where was he? If Daken wanted Kevin, why was he in the school building and not out on the field where Kitty was? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

Luckily for Bobby, Daken made it easy for Bobby to find him. A loud crash from the other wing noticed Bobby exactly where he was. He ran towards the source, a scream of a man followed.

"Daken!" Bobby shouted when he arrived. Through the window of one of the classroom’s the body of a man was flying across the hall, crashing against the window. Bobby hurried to the now unconscious man to check on him. Holding his fingers against the man’s pulse, Bobby let out a sigh of relief when he confirmed that the man was still alive.

He looked up to see Daken standing above him. His claws weren’t out yet, but he was dangerous even despite the claws.

"Hey, snowflake," Daken greeted him, one corner of his lips curling up into a crooked smile.

Bobby narrowed his eyes at the nickname Daken kept calling him. "What did you do?"

Daken rolled his eyes and leaned against the door frame. " _ Chill _ , snowflake. He’s still fine, isn’t he?"

Probably fractured ribs and a concussion. That was better than what most of Daken’s victims got away with. "What did you do here?" Bobby turned his body into ice. "I thought you were dead."

Daken froze for a short second like he was shocked at those words. Bobby couldn’t exactly put a finger on it. Then again, he was sure nobody could really read Daken’s expressions. Who even knew who the guy was? He was messed up, that’s all Bobby knew. And he should be dead. Not here at a High School attacking some random middle-aged man.

"I am," Daken said. With a ' _ snikt' _ , he extended two claws from his fists, "and so will you."

"There are people around," Bobby said, "I don’t want to fight." He'd rather not have the news be full of yet another mutant fight at a high school. "But I will if I have to." He got up.

Daken pursed his lips. "How about this? I leave you alone and you tend to  _ him,  _ and don’t cause a commotion," he nodded towards the still unconscious man to their feet, "and you don’t tell anyone I’m alive."

_ Oh. _ Daken wanted people to think he was still dead.

"You know I can’t do that," he said, "you just attacked an innocent civilian."

"Innocent? How would you know that?" Daken cocked his head.

Bobby clenched his fist. "I still have to take you in. I can’t have you run around. You’re—" Dangerous. Unpredictable. And obviously, he had a plan. Daken wasn’t stupid, he had a plan and Bobby didn’t know what it was yet. He couldn’t let him go.

"I’m flattered but I'll have to pass. Maybe you can take me out on a date another time."

Bobby attacked him. He guessed Daken wouldn’t just go down without a fight. Of course, Daken dodged the attack and fought back easily. They’ve fought before, twice. And both times, Bobby had won. Daken couldn’t win against him but Bobby didn’t want to cause more damage to the building than there already was and he especially didn’t want all those people outside to notice.

Daken pinned Bobby up to the wall. 

"You’re not really fighting," he noticed.

Bobby gritted his teeth and kicked Daken in the stomach . The other male cursed loudly and stumbled back, sliding over a floor of ice Bobby had created.

"I might not be but I can still take you out," Bobby said.

Daken laughed. "I’m so going to have so much fun killing you," he said.

"Why do you not want people to know you’re alive?" Bobby asked. He threw icicles towards Daken, pinning him against the wall now by his clothes. Bobby formed another one in his hands and walked over to him, holding the sharp end of it close to Daken’s chest.

Daken huffed. "That’s not how I like to be pinned against a wall," he joked.

"Shut up," Bobby replied. "Why are you here? Who is this man? What do you want from him?"

"If I tell you, will you keep it a secret?"

"I don’t negotiate with people like you."

Daken threw his head back and laughed. "People like me? And what exactly am I, pretty boy?"

Bobby didn’t let himself be fazed by that nickname. He wasn’t really affected by Daken’s pheromones in general either as he had noticed in their last two fights. "Stop joking around!"

"You know, I always used to think you’re fun. You don’t know how disappointed I am."

"I’ll amuse you," Bobby said, throwing the icicle from one hand to the other, "I won’t tell anyone you’re alive. And you tell me why you were after him."

Daken narrowed his eyes. "You’re lying."

"No, I’m a man of my word." Bobby placed his hand over his chest and smiled. "I’m not like you."

Daken grinned. "You've heard of my baby brother?"

Bobby blinked. "Jimmy?" The image of the blond alternate reality brother that was now on their earth came in his mind. What did he want with Jimmy?

"Not that blond bitch," Daken said, "the other one."

"Logan’s busy," Bobby slipped out and Daken chuckled.

"Yeah, old man can’t really keep it in his pants. But this one’s different. Mystique’s the mom, apparently."

_ Oh.  _ "Raze," Bobby whispered. Daken frowned.

"You know him?"

Bobby bit down on his lower lip. "I’ve fought him," he replied. "His future self." 

It hadn’t exactly been him who fought future Raze, it had been Bobby’s younger self. His younger time-displaced self. It was all too complicated and Bobby had stopped questioning things a long time ago. But he had the memories of his younger self and he remembered Raze clearly. He looked exactly like his mother with blue skin and red hair except that he also had claws. Oh, and those horrible sideburns.

"You’re after Raze? He’s— he should be a baby now," Bobby said, doing the math in his head.

"Yes, I’m after my baby brother," Daken said.

"He’s a child!"

Daken smirked. "And I know where he is."

Bobby couldn’t let that happen. The Raze he met was anything but innocent; but that had been his future self. The Raze in their time was just a child, probably barely a year old. Innocent. Not even blue yet.

"You think I’m going to let you go after the kid?" Bobby asked. "You think I’ll just let you go after I found out you wanna go after your baby brother? Do you want to kill that child?"

Daken frowned. "Is that what you think of me, snowflake?"

"Honestly, I don’t know  _ what  _ to think of you," Bobby admitted. "Just nothing good."

"I know you’re letting me go because I’m the only one who knows where the kid is," he replied.

"Wherever it is, it’s better off without you," Bobby replied. Maybe Mystique had given it away. Maybe the kid had been adopted by loving parents. 

Wherever he was, Raze was better off without some crazy brother wanting to kill him.

"Oh, people will search for him. I know of a few people who would  _ kill  _ to have one of Wolverine’s sons in their arms," Daken said, "who’d want to raise that kid themselves and use it."

Bobby’s eyes widened. "Is that what you want?"

"I’m not saying anything."

Bobby held the icicle closer to Daken’s chest. "I’ll just ask the guy there," Bobby replied, "whoever he is, you must’ve gotten information from him."

Daken frowned. "I’ll just kill him."

"You wouldn’t—"

"Oh, I would. I’d kill him before you can ask him."

Bobby stepped back. "So, I won’t let you go after your baby brother and you don’t want me to tell everyone you’re alive," he concluded.

Daken grabbed the icicles that were holding him against the wall, grabbing them out. "I guess we got ourselves a deal then." 

He threw one of them from one hand to the other, twirling it in the air even.

"What deal?"

Daken licked his lips and smiled dangerously. Bobby didn’t like that smile. It was the smile villains did when they came up with a horrible plan. And Bobby could only imagine Daken coming up with the  _ worst  _ plans.

Daken pointed the icicle towards Bobby and tilted his head. "Ever been to Germany?"

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on twitter [@hyaened](https://twitter.com/hyaened)
> 
> also my art acc is [@hyaenes](https://twitter.com/hyaenes)  
> and i draw bobbydaken. too often
> 
> also ty to my proofreader... idk what i'd do without u ;o;


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> been a while! i'm back :3

There wasn’t much to see outside the window. Bobby couldn’t really tell by just looking out of it where they were flying to. They could be flying anywhere. Just the bright blue sky with fluffy clouds stretching underneath it.

Bobby wondered if he could just jump off the plane. Turn into Iceman and all, he’d survive it. Take Daken down with him. He’d survive it most likely as well. Bobby didn’t know exactly how Daken had died the other times but he knew it had something to do with Logan, his father. Probably one of the reasons Daken was the way he was.

Bobby glanced over to the other male. He was sitting on the opposite side of the plane, leaning back with a glass of red wine in his hands, not caring that he might get any of that on his perfectly clean white suit. Something Bobby would never dare. He just sat there, sipping on the wine that was most likely way too overpriced, with some magazine in his hands, shuffling calmly through the pages like he wasn’t miles in the air flying with his enemy to Germany.

Bobby tensed when Daken noticed he was staring. He didn’t look away though, he wouldn’t give Daken the small amusement of thinking that Bobby might be flustered over being caught staring. Daken was still amused though, his lips curling into a sharp smile as he leaned closer and met Bobby’s eyes.

"What is it, Snowflake? Already questioning your life choices?" Daken teased. Bobby clicked his tongue.

"I mean, who wouldn’t question their life choices if they end up here with you?" Bobby asked.

Daken chuckled though there was a hint of bitterness behind it. Daken got up and straightened his suit jacket before walking over to Bobby and sitting across of him. Bobby tried hard to not stay tense but that was practically impossible.

"You agreed to this," Daken said. "Wine?"

"No."

Daken raised his eyebrows for a short while. "I’m not poisoning you."

Bobby gritted his teeth. "Of course you’re not. Me being dead would be so much easier for your grand evil master plan but you’re _not_ trying to poison me."

Daken placed his glass of wine down. "Please, I’d find another way to do that."

"Like kidnapping one of my students again and then coming after me and my boyfriend?"

Daken pressed his lips together, he was still smiling and it pissed Bobby off. Maybe he did need a drink as well. There was no way he could stay sober on this damn plane. The flight to Germany was nine hours long, barely an hour has passed and Bobby had been tense ever since they met. He knew Daken knew he was tense. Damn those stupid genes of his and his heightened senses.

"Right, how is he by the way? That boyfriend of yours? You exchanging vows soon? Gonna have a beautiful wedding at the X-Mansion?“

Bobby frowned at the mention of Judas. He really did not want to talk about his failed first relationship with a guy that to be frank mostly failed _because_ of Daken. Though Bobby’s life was dangerous. If it hadn’t been Daken, then it would probably have been another villain who would’ve attacked Judas eventually. Bobby didn’t like to think about it either. "You know what? I do want a drink."

"Treat yourself."

Daken liked to live extravagantly. This private jet was way beyond what they actually needed. And his suit… Yes, it looked good on Daken. It’s also what pissed Bobby off about him. He still remembered vividly the first time they officially met and, well, danced with each other. Daken in that perfectly form-fitting white suit, accentuating his body in all the right ways while Bobby felt so out of place in his.

But unlike all the other people Daken could influence with his charms, thanks to his second mutation, Bobby wasn’t swayed by him. No matter how good he looked in a suit with the few first buttons of the shirt underneath opened, revealing the hint of the black lines of his tattoo.

All Bobby felt was really uncomfortable and, well. He was nervous. What went through his mind when he agreed to this? He had no idea actually. How did he end up here, lying to Kitty that she had to trust him and he’ll return soon, that everything was alright but he had to take care of something? Okay, technically he hadn’t lied. Bobby really hoped he’d return soon and that everything was alright. But Bobby wasn’t contrary to a lot of people’s beliefs, _stupid._ No, this was a wrong way to say this. He kind of was stupid for getting on the plane with Daken out of all people to Europe, but he wasn’t so stupid to know it wasn’t stupid. This will probably end in a disaster. Scratch the 'probably'. This _will_ end in a disaster. Bobby just hoped for the best.

He sighed and grabbed for one of the glasses that were on the table in front of him and dividing him and Daken which he was grateful for. He snatched one of the bottles as well, not bothering to see what exactly it was. Emma or Warren would know, Bobby just wanted something to ease him in the presence of Logan’s murderous evil son.

Bobby poured himself a drink, ignoring the curious eyes that laid on him and gulped it down in one go before pouring in a second fill.

"Woah, snowflake, easy there. Aren’t you afraid of accidentally letting your guard down in front of me?"

Bobby pursed his lips. "You’re not _that_ charming, Daken."

"Really? I remember a certain someone telling me I do look good."

Bobby didn’t blush. He just rolled his eyes. "I hate you but I’m not blind. And you’re remembering my words so clearly? Damn, must’ve left an impression on you."

"Yeah, the impression of a literal giant snowflake impaling me to a wall. What was up with that? I thought you guys were heroes. But I guess that doesn’t mean much to you guys."

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"X-Men, Avengers…" Daken waved his hand, "does any of that even hold any value? When you so-called heroes do whatever the fuck you want?"

Bobby wanted to protest. He had no choice. Daken was the bad guy. He had kidnapped a minor and then attacked him. Part of Bobby knew he wasn’t exactly… wrong. There was a difference between him and Daken. Daken was the bad guy, Bobby wasn’t. And yet he had just impaled the guy with a snowflake against a well and left him bleeding because he knew Daken would heal. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t be _hurt._ Did Bobby really have no choice?

"Okay, I see you’re working your brain too much. Don’t do that, it’s not fitting for you."

"Hey! And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Daken took a sip from his wine. "Exactly what I said. You’re not exactly known as being the brain of the squad. What are you known for? Not being the brightest but at least being fun? Eh, I have yet to see that."

"I know what you’re doing."

"What am I doing?"

"Trying to get under my skin. Won’t work. Too hard for that." Bobby turned his body to ice and knocked against his now ice cold and hard forearm.

Daken blinked and then he started to laugh. Bobby really hadn’t expected that reaction from the other male, hadn’t expected him to throw his head back and just burst out in laughter.

"That was _so_ lame."

"I mean you laughed." Bobby turned back and when he noticed he was smiling as well, he quickly forced himself to drop the corners of his mouth. There was no way he was joking around with Daken. He couldn’t forget why they were here for!

Daken wanted to kidnap another kid. Because apparently, that was his thing or something. The kid being his younger brother, the son of his father and Mystique. And considering how much Daken hated his father, it wasn’t a good idea to let him loose on his brother. Or just loose in general, especially on a kid, much less one that couldn’t be any older than a year old.

So he was here. Because Daken knew where the kid was and because Bobby knew Daken was alive and he somehow wanted to keep it a secret. Bobby was trying to figure Daken out, why he kept him around and didn’t try to attack him and kill him. Probably because he knew he couldn’t defeat Bobby in combat so he figured letting him tail along would be better?

"I see you’re trying to think again, don’t do that."

Bobby glared at Daken. "We still got eight hours left," he said, ignoring Daken’s remark. He looked out of the window again even though the scenery literally hasn’t changed at all. "You can get some rest."

"What, and then let you just throw me out of the plane?"

"You know I won’t do that," Bobby said, "I need you."

"Those words under other circumstances would be sexier," Daken said. Bobby didn’t even move at all at the stupid comment. "And I wouldn’t throw you out either." He didn’t need Bobby but he didn’t want him to go around with that knowledge.

"Yeah, but I don’t exactly _trust_ you." He wouldn’t let his walls down and just go to sleep.

"Feeling’s mutual. Guess we’ll have some sleepless nights."

"That’s what he said," Bobby blurted out.

Daken closed his eyes and rubbed his temples like he was now the one questioning his life choices leading to this very moment. Bobby saw this as an actual win and leaned back.

"Okay, but we’re not playing chess or something to pass the time. We’re not that baldy and Magneto."

"Aw, really? I’ve always wanted to play chess with my arch nemesis," he whined.

"I’m your arch nemesis? I’m flattered."

"I mean it. We don’t have to talk," Bobby said. He’d actually prefer it. Whatever they were doing right now, he shouldn’t be bantering with _Daken_. He’d just get it over with, find the child and do everything he could do to keep it safe.

Like on cue, Daken’s phone started ringing. He got up to take the call and left, his eyes still lingering on Bobby for a while too long before he disappeared behind the curtain. Bobby huffed. Daken was allowed to have a phone and he had to throw his out because Daken was scared they’d track him? Which, okay. They probably would. He’d get a throwaway phone once they landed in Germany and give Kitty another call so she’d be sure he really wasn’t in trouble.

Of course, that depended on how you see it.

* * *

"You’re being so weird, Bobby."

Bobby sighed and leaned against the call box. He looked over to Daken who was standing not way too far from him. The guy wasn’t even looking at Bobby, keeping his eyes on him. He had sunglasses on, so Bobby couldn’t exactly tell what he was looking at but he was making a weird face at some loud Teenage boys yelling on top of their lungs, so Bobby assumed his attention right now was on them.

"Really, Kitty. I’m not in trouble or anything."

"You know this is _really_ hard to believe. And now you’re not even using your phone."

"Kitty. You know how our life is, sometimes things are, you know. _Complicated_." Bobby played around with the metallic telephone cord. "I have to do this right now. You have to trust me."

"How do I know you’re not in trouble? That you’re not kidnapped?"

"Do I sound like I am?"

"I don’t know. How do I know you’re you and not some imposter? Mystique?"

A short silence came from Bobby’s side. "Okay, remember when we dated for a short time and then we, like, uh. Had our first time? Or attempted to? My leg cramped so hard and then in the middle of it I turned into ice and I was so embarrassed and so were you so you phased through the bed and—"

"Okay, okay!" Kitty interrupted him an octave higher than her usual voice. "It’s you."

Bobby laughed. "Obviously." He looked up again and. Daken was gone. "Shit."

"What?"

Fuck, Bobby left him out of sight for _once_ and the guy was gone! "Nothing. I’ll call you later when I have news."

"But when you’re in trouble please call for backu—"

Bobby hung up and ran out of the call box. Shit, they were in the middle of the city and there were so many people here. How was he supposed to find Daken among all of them? He was so stupid.

"Why are you looking so scared? Did the girl not take the news so well?" Daken’s voice came behind him.

"Fuck, Daken! I thought you were gone!"

"Miss me?" Daken tilted his head and lowered the sunglasses to look directly into Bobby’s eyes.

Bobby ignored that comment like he had ignored so many of Daken’s comments. "Where were you?"

Daken raised his hand, revealing car keys which he was whirling with its ring around his finger. "I rented us a car."

"You rented us a car," Bobby repeated.

"Okay, I _bought_ one."

Bobby groaned loudly. "Can’t you just, I don’t know, call a cab?“ Bobby asked. "Do you have to go all out?" Not to mention Bobby had no idea how he got a car so fast. He was sure it wasn’t exactly legal. Just like how Daken acquired all the money wasn’t really legal either.

"You coming or not?" Daken started walking.

Bobby reluctantly followed him, quickly catching up to the other male. "Where are we going?"

"We’re not resting yet," Daken replied, "we’re of course going to meet my baby brother."

Bobby clenched his fist. "And then what? You’ll have the baby," he said, "you know I won’t just let you go with it, right?"

"I do." Daken searched for something in the front pocket of his suit jacket. "Gum?" He offered Bobby it and Bobby hesitated before he just grabbed one gum strip, peeled the wrapping off and put it into his mouth.

"You literally haven’t answered yet. We don’t know where that kid is, right? If it’s not in danger, can’t you just… let it be?"

"What?"

"Mystique gave it away," Bobby explained, "right? What if he was just adopted by some loving parents and it just grows up being loved. And its name is not Raze but, I don’t know German names, I’m not Kurt. Günther Meier."

"I think you pretty much butchered the pronunciation of that name," Daken said.

"I said I don’t know German names!"

Daken sighed. "That kid can go by whatever name his adoptive parents give him," he said, "if he has adoptive parents. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s Logan and Mystique’s son."

"Blood doesn’t make family," Bobby said.

"Are you dense? That’s not what I fucking mean. That kid will grow up having fucking claws and being blue with red hair. _Everyone_ will know, no matter if its a Günther or a Raze."

Bobby blinked. " _That’s_ how you pronounce the name?"

"Is that all you got from that?"

"No," Bobby said quickly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I get what you’re saying. But it deserves… growing up normal. With loving parents and not with whatever the hell you want to put him through."

Daken was looking at him strangely. "It doesn’t matter," he said, "who raises you. Logan being your dad will eventually come and bite your ass when you start to change."

He looked away and started walking faster. Bobby was sure Daken wasn’t only talking about his brother anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also i'm german too dont attack me for mr günther meier 😭


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rip dakenbobby 2017-2019 it was nice knowing you i guess

Bobby stared out of the car’s window at the huge building Daken parked at. It was made of dark red bricks with the section of the main entrance made fully out of glass. Several bikes and other cars were parked here as well, some people standing in front of the main entrance.

"Where are we?" Bobby asked. "I thought we’re getting your brother."

"Yeah, we are," Daken replied. "That guy didn’t have that much information though.“

"You never told me who he was," Bobby noticed. He also noticed how he didn’t know much about this mission. Daken liked leaving him in the dark, he guessed. Daken’s fingers slid over the car’s wheel, fingers drumming lightly against the leather.

"Because it’s not important."

"Maybe it is important to me," Bobby said. "Is he dangerous?"

Daken laughed. "Please, he’s a mere human. He’s unimportant, as long as your friends don’t come and fiddle with him, he will be fine. Maybe."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

Daken didn’t even look at him, he was just looking outside. His eyes were following a mother and a daughter walking across the streets towards the building. "It’s not important," he repeated.

"It is to me. I need to know what I’m even getting myself into."

"Does it matter? You’re going to fight me sooner or later anyway," Daken said and rubbed his temples.

The sun was going down slowly and the light made Daken’s golden skin glow. Bobby couldn’t recall a time he ever actually _looked_ at him, really up close. They’ve been up close in fights, and when they danced that one time, and when Bobby kissed him to freeze the Death Seed, but he never really paid attention to him like this. It was weird and he quickly looked away.

"He was the doctor who was there when Mystique got him," Daken explained after a few uncomfortable seconds passed. "She handed him the child over because she didn’t want to keep it." Daken scoffed and shook his head, looking out of the window. His lips were turned down. "She clearly hasn’t heard of abortion."

"Maybe she thought… she could raise him?" Bobby suggested.

Daken turned his head to him, finally facing Bobby again. "You kidding me? She gave birth to Xavier’s kid just a year before. There’s something wrong with her."

Bobby forgot about the other kid. The young Charles Xavier Junior. „Right," he said, "I mean, clearly there is. But there’s also something wrong with you if you just want to kidnap a _newborn._ "

"It’s not newborn anymore." Daken opened the door to the car and grinned. "And I never said there wasn’t anything wrong with me." He got out of the car and Bobby groaned. Two seconds later he unbuckled himself as well and got out.

"Hey, get a parking ticket," Daken said.

"A parking ticket?" Bobby repeated. Daken pointed with the car’s keys to a machine not too far away. "Are you kidding me? You probably stole this car or something and you’re about to kidnap a child and you want to be an upstanding citizen and pay for a _parking ticket_?"

"Hey, I have morals."

"You’re doing this just to mess with me!" Bobby snapped at him.

Daken shrugged. "No, why would I do such a thing?"

Bobby gritted his teeth and extended his arm. "Okay, give me money." Daken blinked. "What? I don’t have any money on me." He smiled innocently and the other male took out his wallet and put a note in Bobby’s palm.

"I know what you’re doing," Bobby said as he walked over to the machine, placing his hand on the top while not breaking eye contact with Daken. "You’re just so used to everyone dancing to your fiddle because of your powers. You get off of getting under people’s skin but you can’t do that with me so you just… do all the other weird shit."

Daken narrowed his eyes. "You don’t know shit, snowflake. Besides, didn’t you say your skin was too hard to get under? Or do I just have to push the right buttons?" He made his way towards Bobby, stopping right next to him with both of his hands in his pant’s pockets.

"Yeah," Bobby said, "you do."

"Oh?"

"No, I mean literally. I can’t speak German. I have no idea what this says," Bobby said, gesturing at the display. Daken rolled his eyes.

"Forget it, we’re not paying for a ticket."

"We started it now, we’re going to pay this fucking ticket!"

"You’re ridiculous!"

"This doesn’t even accept notes. Where am I supposed to put this in?!" Bobby was at loss. "You got some coins on you?"

"Do I _look_ like I carry something less than 100 euro bills?" Daken asked, appalled.

"I mean, you did have them when I needed to get some money for my phone call."

"No, I actually swindled a woman in giving me her money while you were busy searching for the telephone number," Daken confessed. Bobby stared at Daken and groaned.

"Fine. No ticket! If the car gets towed off, it’s your fault."

"I thought you didn’t like the car?"

Bobby shook his head. "I said it’s _too_ much. We’re undercover, aren’t we? Who fucking gets a car like this?" He pointed at the new car that was not too far away from them. It was beautiful, no doubt, way too expensive too. Not something Bobby would’ve chosen because, let’s be real, this car was too good for them. It was going to crash down some cliff sooner or later considering both of their lives. Bobby knew not to hold onto things like these too much. Not that he often drove by car, he felt the freest when he used his ice slides as transportation.

"God, and here I thought you have absolutely no taste in anything. Thank god it’s just in fashion and men."

„Uh, what? Not everyone can—" Bobby stopped himself from finishing that sentence and inhaled sharply. "I think people are looking." He noticed a man staring at them, probably because they were arguing way too loudly.

Daken opened the car again and got out a baseball cap and threw it towards Bobby. Bobby caught it quickly and put it on, pulling it lower down his face. He had sunglasses on as well but he wasn’t sure if that would suffice.

"Okay, less discussing about cars," Daken said and approached the building’s main entrance. Bobby followed him quickly. He had no idea where they were and Daken walked way too fast for Bobby to read every single sign in the building.

"You can wait here," Daken said and Bobby almost crashed into him when the other male stopped suddenly.

"Huh?"

"We’re at the Registration Office. Hoffmann gave the child up for adoption, this is all the lead I have," Daken explained. Hoffmann was the name of the doctor, Bobby guessed.

"Oh. So, you’re going to ask them real nice about a child that was handed in at a certain time or what? You do know they’re not going to give some random guy with a weird mohawk and a suit more expensive than their monthly bill that information, right?"

Daken seemed amused by that. "Of course."

"You’re not going to cause a scene, right? You know, I’ll stop you," Bobby warned him.

Daken rolled his eyes. "Just because _you_ aren’t affected by me, snowflake, doesn’t mean the others aren’t either. I’ll just ask _real_ nice," Daken said.

Bobby didn’t like it. "Couldn’t you just break in in the night or something," he muttered.

"How is that better? You X-Men are so fucking weird. Always causing a scene when it can be done easier,“ Daken said. "We’re not discussing this. Stay here."

Bobby shook his head. "You’ll just run off."

"Chances of you running off are way higher," Daken stated. He was right. Bobby had no idea why he stayed so long with him yet. He knew everything now. There wasn’t anything Daken could hold over him. Bobby knew that he could get the information of Raze here _and_ Bobby would win against him in a fight (yes, there would be casualties and he didn’t want these random German citizens to get caught in the crossfire).

"How are you going to keep me here?" Bobby asked. "You know I’ll just take the kid and return it to its parents the first chance I get. If it was adopted, of course. If not, I’ll get it to safety somewhere far away from sickos like you."

Daken shrugged. "Maybe you’ll see how sweet I am with kids and fall heads over heels for me and agree to raise the kid with me," he joked.

Bobby made a face. "Hell will freeze over before that happens."

"Funny, if I could think of anyone who could make hell freeze, it’s you."

"Okay, I admit, not really the best choice of words," Bobby admitted. "Whatever, go do your pheromones stuff. I’ll wait in the… waiting room."

Daken glanced over to the actual waiting room where there was just another elder woman sitting with a small dog to her feet, her eyes closed behind her spectacles. He left and Bobby sat down next to the older woman. He even smiled at her and said a quick, "hello," but she didn’t open her eyes and look up to him and her dog was growling at him.

"Oh, wow, mutantphobe," Bobby whispered under his breath and got up, about to change his seat. Instead, he changed his mind. He couldn’t just let Daken do that alone. He could literally destroy all the evidence, kill the workers, and then run away, making sure it’d be harder for Bobby to track him down. And then he’d have to ask the X-Men for help and somehow explain to him how he got into this mess.

So Bobby followed Daken.

He was behind the corner, looking over a young woman’s shoulder as she was showing him something on the computer screen. Daken had taken off his sunglasses and by the looks of it, the woman was strongly affected by Daken’s powers. She was more staring at him than at the screen, her eyes wide and her lips curled up. But there was just something off about her expression. They were talking to each other quietly.

"You speak German?" Bobby asked.

Daken and the woman both looked up. The woman said something in German to Daken who just laughed and shook his head and said something in return. She relaxed again and there was the smile back on her face.

"I speak various languages. Also couldn’t you just sit back and wait for me?"

Bobby got behind the counter as well to look over the woman’s shoulder at the screen. "No, maybe you’d just kill her and then destroy all evidence," Bobby said, "and then run away."

"Snowflake, you need to _stop_ giving me good ideas," Daken said.

Bobby narrowed his eyes, ignoring how close Daken was to him right now. He wondered how the woman was feeling, so affected by Daken’s pheromones. He was sure this wasn’t even the most he could do. She was just doing heart eyes at him, not throwing herself at Daken. Not like… not like Judah. He hated thinking about it but it was a good thing. It reminded him that besides all the stupid banter between them, that Daken was still a bad guy. That Bobby should and did hate him for what he did. And what he wanted and could do.

Daken wrote down an address on a piece of paper and then placed a kiss on the woman’s cheek. She turned, actually wanting to catch his lips with hers but Bobby pushed Daken away from her.

"Don’t," he warned Daken.

"I didn’t do anything!"

"We got the information now, right?" Bobby even memorized it in his mind as well. "How far away is that?"

Daken hummed and folded the note, carefully putting it in the front pocket of his suit jacket before returning his attention to the screen.

"What are you doing?"

"Destroying evidence," Daken explained.

"Why?"

"You think we’re the only ones behind that kid? How many times do I have to remind you it’s Mystique and Logan’s kid?" Daken clicked his tongue as he erased the whole file. Bobby didn’t know much about technology but he guessed Daken did his work well. "And it’s just a few hours away from here."

Bobby looked outside. "It’s getting dark," he said.

Daken rolled his eyes. "We can get rest and take the kid tomorrow," he said, "my work here is done." He got up and said something to the woman. "Let’s just erase anything the security cameras might have caught."

Bobby stepped aside as Daken turned to him. "What about her?"

"She won’t say anything," Daken assured him. "Stimmt’s?"

"Natürlich nicht!"

"She said no," Daken translated and winked. Bobby sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"If we do rest tonight, I need a drink," he said. He was tired though. He’s been up for over twenty-four hours, not trusting to go to bed because Daken could just run away. And it was the same for Daken. He’d probably just have to… tie him up or something. Not that it would work. He was sure Daken could just get himself out of it and so could Bobby.

"What are you thinking so much for?"

"Trying to figure out how to tie you up to a bed," Bobby blurted out.

Daken raised his eyebrows. "Not even asking me out on a date first?"

"I mean— not like that! _What._ No. Just so you don’t run off in the middle of the night. Or stab me with your claws," Bobby explained.

"Ah, and here I thought you were showing your kinky side. Should know you’re vanilla," Daken said.

Bobby shrugged. "That is for me to know and you to find out."

"Do you always flirt with your enemies? Or just the ones you want to tie up?" Daken asked with a wide smirk.

"You wish I was flirting with you," Bobby said, "I got better suitors in the League of Evil Villains. And I’m saving myself up for some big name."

Daken scoffed. "Oh, I’m—"

"If you say big, I _will_ freeze your dick," Bobby warned him. "C’mon, let’s just get the security feed and then get out of here."

Daken chuckled and the sound of it rang in Bobby’s head. Stop it, Bobby! He couldn’t believe he was bantering with Daken. Bobby refused to call it _flirting_ because it wasn’t. He liked to talk and banter. It was his thing. Not everyone was boring and just fought their opponents with a straight face, he wasn’t Scott. But he really shouldn’t be doing this with _Daken_.

It was somehow just hard not do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gotta pump this fic out before the ship is DEAD dead because marvel said daken lives dont matter


	4. 4

Daken rang the bell and leaned over the counter.

"All that money and you choose _this_ motel?" Bobby asked as he looked around the place. It looked pretty run-down, not too bad for Bobby, he had spent the nights at worse places, but after traveling with Daken for more than a day, he had expected something else. After the private jet and the expensive car, Bobby had expected Daken to choose something different. Way more stars, or at least one star.

"I thought you didn’t want to attract any attention," Daken said.

Bobby rubbed the back of his neck. "Aw, you’re doing this for me?"

Daken rolled his eyes and turned back to the counter. "After our little stunt,we have to be careful—"

A middle-aged woman with short red hair came through a door behind the counter. She was wearing thick-framed glasses on her nose which she adjusted as she narrowed her eyes, looking at the two of them. "Not from here?" she asked with a thick accent.

Daken smiled. "Yes, we’d like a room. One bed."

"Wait, what?" Bobby asked, appalled.

"Honey, you wanted to tie me up, right?" Daken asked, turning to Bobby with a sly grin. Bobby couldn’t believe Daken just said that straight out in front of the woman. He glanced over to her, she didn’t look very amused by it. There was a frown on her face but she didn’t say anything.

"I… I guess," Bobby said and cleared his throat.

"Okay. Please fill this out and leave your IDs, payment upfront."

Daken leaned closer to her and said something in German again. Bobby was starting to get bothered by it, maybe he should pick up German. Though he could tell what Daken was doing. At least he wasn’t using his powers, he was simply shoving a bunch of money towards her face. The woman’s eyes widened and Daken winked at her.

"We’d like some privacy too," he said, "right, honey?" He turned to Bobby and put his arm around Bobby’s waist.

Bobby wanted nothing more than to glare at Daken and kick his ass for it but instead, he offered the woman the brightest smile. "Of course."

The woman nodded and put some keys on the counter. She said something else but Bobby guessed by the gesture she was making, she was saying her lips were sealed.

They walked wordlessly up the stairs to the fourth floor where their room was because the place had no elevator. Bobby was thinking about all the ways he’d later shout at Daken once they were in their room. He was also making notes to all the emergency exits they passed while walking up. He hoped they didn’t have to use them and that this place would be the same once they left it. Nothing good came from an Omega Level mutant and X-Men traveling around with one of the bad guys which just happened to be Wolverine’s murderous son.

Daken pointed with the key towards the door with the number 418 on it and Bobby stopped in front of it. Once Daken unlocked the door and they stepped inside, he turned to Daken.

"What the fuck?" he asked as soon as Daken closed the door behind him and locked it.

"What is it now?" Daken asked, his voice clearly tired. He threw the bag with all the things they bought at the supermarket just prior to the side and started undressing.

"Did you have to do that? Besides, why do we have a room with just _one_ bed again? And can you stop taking off your clothes?"

Daken wasn’t even half-naked, he was just in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt after he threw his suit jacket on the bed. "I told you why."

"You want me to tie you up?" Bobby asked and laughed. "C’mon, I’m not gonna indulge you in your fantasies. No, seriously. Tell me."

"I _am_ serious." Daken let out a long sigh. He dropped his hands, now with his shirt completely unbuttoned. Bobby got a better look at his tattoo which he hadn’t seen in a while, only peaks of it. Bobby tore his eyes away from Daken’s now half-exposed torso as Daken took the bag and threw it towards Bobby. He quickly caught it in his hands.

"Look in it. I got us ropes," Daken said.

Bobby choked on air when he grabbed inside it and actually saw the rope. "You’re…" He took it out and held it in the air. He didn’t even notice it when Daken bought it.

"Yeah?"

"I don’t pull out on the first date,“ Bobby blurted out.

Daken laughed. "It’s not the best. I know a thing about bondage and I can assure you these won’t feel way too comfortable on your skin. But it’s the best they had and we both have endured worse. Besides, I kind of like it when it hurts a bit."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "No, really. Is it as insurance that you don’t run away? I know you can literally cut your way through the ropes at night."

"I know. The only thing we can rely on is trust but I don’t trust you and you don’t trust me either," Daken said. Bobby didn’t deny it, he was right. He could see Daken stabbing him with his claws in the middle of the night and then run away, letting Bobby bleed on the bed of a cheap motel in Germany.

Bobby glanced at the bed and then it clicked. "Oh."

"Wow, your brain hasn’t frozen all over," Daken said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You want us to be tied together," Bobby concluded. "That way we’d notice every movement of the other and wake up from it before."

"Yes, though the risk for me is higher. You can just freeze me up."

"I wouldn’t do that," Bobby said.

Daken raised his eyebrows. "You’ve done so before."

Bobby pressed his lips together. "Okay, I won’t. But don’t you think this is too much?"

"You want to start trusting me then, snowflake?"

Bobby’s gaze darkened. He thought of Judah, of himself, of the students Daken had endangered, he thought of AMP, the young mutant Daken had kidnapped and used for his sick plan, he thought about Norman Osborn’s Avengers. "No," he said, "okay. It’s just a bit cuddling, right? I run cold by the way."

Daken grinned. "Good. Just don’t accidentally turn into ice in the middle of the night. Don’t want something hard poking me."

"I should say the same about you," Bobby shot back.

* * *

Bobby came out of the shower and the food they ordered already arrived. Daken still hadn’t bothered to put on clothes or he just didn’t sleep at all in clothes, Bobby couldn’t tell. Daken’s hair was still a little bit wet from the shower but he had put it in a loose ponytail and he was just wearing briefs. He was also already eating the food but he was one of the bad guys. You can’t expect from him to wait for Bobby to finish showering to start eating.

Bobby sat down wordlessly across Daken and started eating as well. He didn’t want to talk to Daken is the conclusion he came to while he was under the shower. But it was hard not to talk for Bobby. But he didn’t want to because every time Daken said something, Bobby just had to have a wicked response right back at it and he _did_ not want to make it seem like he was flirting with him.

So instead Bobby looked around the room. There wasn’t anything besides the bed and the little table with two chairs. The curtains were old and fading in color already, there was a slight crack on the wall, he had noticed in the bathroom the mirror’s lamps weren’t working anymore either, and he was sure the walls were pretty thin.

He got pretty bored of watching the room so Bobby looked at his food. He had been the one to order it from Daken’s phone over an app which had an English version and Daken didn’t seem to complain about the choice of food even though it was pretty cheap.

Bobby just thought that Daken was one of those guys who refused to wear or eat something cheap but here he was in a cheap run-down motel, dressed in some clothes they got from a supermarket, and eating Pizza that didn’t cost more than 10 Euros. And yet here he was, just eating it. Though, he had left Bobby with the pineapple pizza, a favorite that most of his friends mocked him for. Daken didn’t strike him as a pineapple pizza guy anyway, or like a pizza guy.

Bobby had no idea what to make of him. Bobby’s eyes unconsciously wandered back to Daken and to the tattoo that made up half of his upper body. He had never really paid any attention to it. The last time he had seen it, they have been fighting. And then Bobby kissed him to freeze the Death Seed and kicked him down, so he never exactly had the chance to get a good look at it.

"You got something to say?" Daken suddenly interrupted him.

Bobby looked up. "No," he said. "I’m just… tired."

He had been awake for way too long now. Soon to be two days. Not the longest time he had gone without sleep but he could use some rest.

Not too much later, they got ready for bed and Daken still hadn’t put on clothes. He gestured Bobby towards the bed. He was sitting on one of the chairs leaned back with the rope curled around his arm, swinging the end of it with a smug grin on his face.

"Lie down, snowflake. Don’t worry, I won’t be too rough on you."

Bobby narrowed his eyes. "You’re gonna tie me up?"

"I’m tying us both up," Daken corrected. "I think I just have a better expertise. Unless you _do_ have experience. Didn’t you have a fling with my baby brother’s mom?"

The memories of his romance with Mystique came to Bobby’s mind. "I really hoped nobody would ever bring that up again. Ever." Bobby lied down on the bed. It wasn’t uncomfortable, it was actually rather nice. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was so tired that he felt like this bed was a gift from the gods.

Daken laughed. "This could’ve been your child."

"At least there wouldn’t be a guy like you after it," Bobby said.

"Thank god it isn’t yours. I’ve always wanted a younger brother."

"You did?" Bobby asked, a flash of surprise appearing on his face.

"No." Daken pressed his lips together and for a moment Bobby thought he had more to say about this but he just got up. "There are already way too many of us around."

Bobby thought of Laura, Gabby, and Jimmy. And about how many other clones might be running around or children Logan might have fathered and not know about. Daken was right about one thing at least. Bobby watched as Daken got up from his seat and set his knees on the bed. Bobby swallowed hard as he watched Daken make his way towards him. It didn’t help that Daken was still almost naked.

"You know, it’s usually more fun when you’re the one who gets to undress the guy," Bobby joked and regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth.

"I can put my clothes back on again," Daken replied.

"Please do," Bobby said. "I run cold."

"I think I can take it."

 _Stop. Flirting._ Bobby chewed on the inside of his cheeks and held his hands out. "Okay, how are we doing this?"

"Have you ever been tied up? No idea about all the people you’ve dated but Mystique seems like someone who’d be into that."

"I don’t kiss and tell," Bobby said. "Besides, that’s still your brother’s mom. Isn’t that weird to talk about her like that?"

Daken grabbed Bobby’s wrists. It wasn’t rough but it was sudden and Bobby yelped at the sudden skin to skin contact. "I can feel your pulse, snowflake," Daken said, sliding his thumb slightly over one of his wrists. "Not that I need to. My pheromones might not be working on you but everything else works. I can hear your heartbeat from here."

"Not every day some crazy ass gets me to Germany and then ties me up in a cheap motel," Bobby replied, trying to calm himself down and hold his voice steady. "I don’t know if you forgot, but we’re not on the same side."

Daken smiled. "How can I forget? Because I’m evil and you’re an X-Men and you’re so righteous and good. Because everything is black and white."

"That’s not what I’m saying. I know— I know not everything is black and white," Bobby replied. It was part of being an X-Men. They weren’t the Avengers. Not that they were any perfect either, they were all kinds of fucked up as well that Bobby stopped bothering to keep up a long time ago. Why should he when they didn’t care either?

"There is no comfortable way around this. We could also not do this," Daken suggested. Bobby shook his head.

"No, I don’t trust you. Just get on with it."

It was fascinating to watch Daken handle his ways with the ropes. He didn’t bother asking Bobby at all if it was comfortable (it wasn’t bad but Daken had been right. The ropes weren’t ideal) and much less the position they ended up in.

"Do we… do we have to be like this?" Bobby asked, his voiced hitched. Daken was so close to him, right behind him. His arms were around Bobby’s body and they came together with Bobby’s, all four of them tied together. This way, even if Daken extended his claws, they wouldn’t strike Bobby’s body. If Daken would think of doing something, he’d move Bobby’s arms as well and Bobby was sure he’d wake up from that or from being stabbed. One of those things.

"You want to be the big spoon?" Daken asked behind him. "I can do that too. I’m pretty flexi—„

"No, it’s fine," Bobby lied. He hated the effect Daken had on him even without his pheromone powers. He hated how Daken could hear his heart beat faster than usual and feel how tense he was. But this was better than the other way round. He didn’t want to sleep with his face pressed against Daken’s naked skin, he didn’t want to accidentally bury his nose in his hair which smelt nice even from here. It wasn’t his powers but the two of them had used the same shampoo so Bobby didn’t know what exactly it was that made him smell so good. And most of all Bobby hated the feeling in the inside of his stomach, the feeling he had because he still hated Daken and felt bad and guilty for lying here with him. For working with him.

It was going to be okay, Bobby told himself and closed his eyes.

Luckily, he was too tired to stay awake for long and toss and turn over how much he despited the position he was in, physically and mentally.

* * *

An awkward morning later that made Bobby feel like he had just had a one night stand with the wrong person, and an even more awkward but quick breakfast from a more expensive restaurant not too far away, they were in the car again on the way to get Raze.

Bobby hoped they would be done after today. There was a feeling that they weren’t though. It couldn’t be that easy. There was more to it, more to why Daken still kept Bobby around. It was this feeling Bobby had that made him still be here next to Daken even though he hated waking up in his arms the next morning. He hated how close Daken had been, how he had felt his breath against his neck when Bobby finally moved and woke up and Daken greeted him. There was more to all of this and Bobby was going to get to the bottom of it.

"How far away is it?" Bobby asked.

"Are you a child?"

"Maybe I am," Bobby replied. "How much longer? Can we make a stop? I need to pee. I want to go to McDonald’s.“

Daken groaned. "I preferred the awkward silence," he said.

"Really?" Bobby was surprised.

Daken tilted his head. "Usually when I wake up with someone in bed and awkward silence follows, I just break it with a second round."

Bobby made a face. "Yeah, won’t work for me.“

"Figured."

"We could just listen to music," Bobby suggested and started playing with the buttons of the car’s radio. He clicked around until he found a radio station in which the people weren’t talking in German and there was music playing which Bobby recognized.

"You’re not going to sing are you?"

"I hate when it’s quiet," Bobby said. Besides, he didn’t want to be in his thoughts too much right now. His mind would eventually drift somewhere he didn’t want it to go. Daken sighed and turned the music on even louder, probably so he didn’t have to hear Bobby’s singing.

* * *

"I still don’t think this is a good idea," Bobby said once they were in front of address that Daken had written down. The house was huge, needless to say, Raze would grow up with a very rich family. The fences were high and Bobby was sure security was as well though neither of those would be able to stop Daken. "I’m sure he’s going to live the best of his life."

They were still sitting in their car, parked a bit further away from the house with the windows curled down.

"Because his parents are rich?" Daken asked.

"That’s not what I mean," Bobby replied. "But he has parents that love him, right? We should just let your brother rest. I know, being Wolverine’s son will eventually bite him in the ass but that’s not yet. He’s like one year old."

"Ten months," Daken corrected him.

"Ten months year old," Bobby said.

"Ten months year old?" Daken repeated, appalled by the expression. Bobby waved his hand.

"Tomayto, tomatho," Bobby said. "I mean it. It’ll take a while until his powers display. At least ten years. Let him have this, let him live a normal life until then. I don’t know what _you_ want to do with him and I don’t even want to think about it but—

"What do you think?" Daken snapped, turning his head away from the house and towards Bobby. His eyes were narrowed, the corner of his lips curled down, his brows furrowed.

"Please. You’re not exactly the best guy to handle kids," Bobby said. "Do you even remember what you did? You kidnapped one of my students."

"Zachary went with me willingly," Daken said. Bobby noticed that there was a hint of something else behind that voice. Like he almost regretted it. He must be mistaken, Daken probably didn’t regret any of that.

"He was a minor," Bobby said. "Do you even care? What happened to him afterward?"

"Oh, tell me." Daken leaned back and drummed his nails on the wheel. He had taken off the black nail polish last night right before they went to bed because the color had been slowly fading. "You’d give him detention and then just set him through some more boring classes that apparently prepare him for the real world?"

Bobby frowned. "You really don’t know."

"Don’t know what?"

Bobby shook his head in disbelief. "You don’t care about what you did to the kid. He adored you and you just left him. You just abandoned him after _manipulating_ and grooming him—"

"Shut up!" Daken raised his fist, two of his claws extending and poking the underside of Bobby’s chin. "You don’t know anything. Say one more word and I will stab you here and while you try to recover, I’ll get the child and I will disappear."

There he was. The Daken he knew, the one that had put these claws through Bobby’s ex-boyfriend, that had endangered all his students, the one that had probably killed more people without remorse that he couldn’t even keep count. He knew Laura and Gabby actually liked their older brother, maybe because he was family and it was always difficult with family. Bobby understood it. As he said, he knew not everything was black and white and family even less, be it by blood or not.

He was about to say something when he saw the doors to the house opening. A white couple came out, the woman wearing a white flowery dress with a heavy necklace around her collar and the man a polo-shirt and sunglasses, while he was holding a baby in his arms.

"Raze," Bobby mouthed. Daken turned around and pulled his back.

"Where are they going?"

"I don’t know, it’s a Saturday, the sun is shining, maybe they just want to have a nice day with their son?" Bobby suggested. "Who, by the way, looks like he’s having a great time."

Raze didn’t look anything like his future self. No blue skin and red hair, no claws, and while he couldn’t see it from the distance, he was sure this child didn’t have the glowing golden eyes either. Just a normal cute little child that was laughing and waving his arms, as children often do. The three of them looked like a happy family. Bobby didn’t want to destroy their happiness.

The three of them made their way towards one of the cars that parked outside and got in. A while later, they drove out.

"We’re following them," Daken said.

"You’re not going to listen to me, will you?"

"The kid’s one of us, whether you like it or not."

"One of Logan’s kids?"

"A mutant," Daken explained and started the car. "Might look like a loving family now, but how will they react when he suddenly turns blue, or looks exactly like them, or accidentally stabs someone?"

Bobby thought about his parents. They had their ups and downs. About him being a mutant, an X-Men, and about him being gay. But they were his parents and he was their son. "I’m sure they’ll accept him," he said but he was sounding unsure now, "he’s their son."

"Not everyone has good parents."

Bobby didn’t say anything anymore because he knew Daken was right about that. He wondered who Daken’s parents were. He wasn’t raised by Logan, the guy didn’t even know he had a son until a few years ago. Who raised him? Did he have any family before he met Laura and Gabby? Though none of it mattered because he was still Daken and Bobby told himself he didn’t need to know more about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this is not too slow-paced. I just have a lot to say which is why chapters might be longer now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm on a roll of inspirtation

Raze was taken out of his stroller and now seated on a baby chair. The little boy was flailing with his arms and slamming on the table with his tiny, tiny fists. Daken told him that this could’ve been his child and Bobby couldn’t even think about something like that. He wasn’t ready to be a father. There once had been a time when he thought he was one when one of his past lovers lied to him that her child was his, but he quickly learned of the truth.

"You sure that’s him?" Bobby asked. "You don’t look anything alike."

Daken frowned. "That’s a ten months old kid," he pointed out.

"You need to look. A bit alike, right?" Bobby asked, turning his head back to the couple. The mother was laughing at something her husband said while also adjusting the child’s little hat.

"I come after my mother."

Bobby looked at Daken. He didn’t look like Logan, not much at least. Maybe he was just used to Laura and Gabby and while they looked very different, they also had just so much of Logan’s traits in their appearance. Though, they were kind of his clones. Daken, on the other hand, barely had anything in common with Logan. Maybe a little bit… the eyes, maybe. His lips?

"So, what’s the plan?" Bobby asked.

"I’m going to take that child, whether you want it or not," Daken said.

"You’re nuts. Look at them." Bobby tilted his head to where the family was seated on the other side of the restaurant. "They’re cute. They’re happy. They decided to adopt which, I guess, makes them nice people or they weren’t able to have children themselves. Or both, I don’t know. Raze loves them and— is his name even Raze?"

"His name doesn’t matter," Daken said.

"It does," Bobby replied. "Names, whether given or chosen are important."

"And you decide to go by _Bobby_?" Daken made a face and Bobby shrugged.

"I like the name. What does Daken mean?"

A short pause followed before Daken replied. "We’re taking it when they’re distracted."

"Daken! We can’t just steal a child!" Bobby hushed at him. A waitress came towards their table and he smiled at her wordlessly while she served them the food they ordered before leaving again. Immediately, his smile disappeared as well. "I’m _not_ going to help you steal a child!"

"Why are you so shocked? This is literally why we’re here. I told you my plan from the start," Daken said.

"Yeah. Well." Bobby was unsure of what to say. He was right, it had been Daken’s intention from the beginning. "I just didn’t think—"

"That I’d go through with it? Do you know who I am?"

Bobby pressed his lips together. "Okay, you might be bad. But… Laura and Gabby trust you. So you can’t be _that_ bad, right? There’s a line you don’t cross. There has to be. And I’m sure stealing an innocent child from his loving parents is one of the things on the other side of the line."

Daken seemed amused by Bobby’s words. "I’m doing it a favor."

"No, you’re not! Even if his parents would be scared when they find out he’s a mutant… maybe we could talk to them. They’d be prepared for it. And then we’ll offer Raze or Günther a place at the Academy once he gets his powers. Maybe they’re understanding."

Daken sighed and rubbed his temples. "They’re not."

"You don’t know that."

"I do. They hate mutants. I’ve done my research on them. They donate to Anti Mutant Organization yearly. The man’s research facility also is working on a vaccine to suppress the mutant gene before they even appear."

Bobby was taken back by the sudden information. "Anti-vax moms are about to become our only allies," he said.

Daken rolled his eyes. "You get my point. Now they don’t mind Raze because they don’t know he’s a mutant. That, or they know who his parents are and want to use him for their experiments, strip him of his powers before they even display."

Bobby shifted in his seat. "How do you know all of this?"

"I have my contacts."

That wasn’t helping at all. "Maybe they change their mind when they find out their son is a mutant."

"You sound naive. Some people can’t change, snowflake. It’s not your job to do that for them either," Daken pointed out as he started to eat. "Besides, how well did it work out for you? Came out only now and almost threw away half of your life away wasting your time with women."

Bobby clenched his fists. "I didn’t _waste_ my time," he said. He had cared for them. It wasn’t love and it was never as fulfilling as for the times he had now been with men, but he had cared for them and loved them in another way. Though spending years, over half of his life, in the closet was anything but ideal. His heart had broken when he had to send Teenage Bobby back to his time, erasing all his memories when the young boy finally embraced himself, putting him back in the closet for another decade.

"So, because his parents are trash, we’re going to steal a child," Bobby concluded.

"No, I would’ve done it even if they weren’t."

Bobby wasn’t sure. If his sisters saw something in him, he couldn’t be that bad. And Johnny. Bobby had talked just briefly with Johnny about Daken once and he had been surprised when the Human Torch defended him. Bobby didn’t bother to ask about it more, he didn’t want to argue with Johnny at that time and he didn’t want to list out all the things Daken had done to him. Johnny saw something in him as well, for whatever reasons. Yes, he was bad but not… not _evil._

"There’s still something else there, isn’t there?" Bobby asked. "Something you’re not telling me."

Daken sighed. "We can fight each other or not. But I’d rather we not."

Bobby glanced over at the couple. They looked so happy and the way they treated their child would make him think it was impossible for them to hate him or be evil. But if what Daken said was true… looks could be deceiving. No mutant child deserved parents that hated mutants.

"If they’re developing a vaccine, do you think they already used it on him?"

"No," Daken said, "but I wouldn’t know."

The child was probably better off without turning blue and claws coming out of the places between his knuckles. He couldn’t imagine the child of Wolverine and Mystique to lead a good peaceful life. But the child was one of them, he was a mutant and they shouldn’t take something like that away from them.

Okay, so Raze shouldn’t grow up with them. But what was the alternative? Just steal a fucking baby away from his parents? He wasn’t even a year old, so he probably won’t even remember this but it was cruel. But so were these people if he believed Daken’s words.

"Decide now, snowflake," Daken said, "will you help me? I can do this with or without you. With would be easier with less bloodshed."

Bobby looked over to Raze again. The child was currently suckling on its baby bottle. "What is the name they chose for him?"

"Alexander."

"Not Günther?" Bobby asked in disappointment.

"We can name it Günther."

"I’m not gonna co-parent Raze with you," Bobby said. The couple called for the bill and started getting their stuff together. "We can’t just steal a child, I’m sure it’s not legal."

"What else do you want to do? They won’t hand him over," Daken replied. "Even if he was a mutant, they’d just use their vaccine on him."

"But one more thing, how do I know you’re right? You could just lie to me," he said. Daken raised his eyebrows.

"You think I’m just ending it here? I’m gonna tear their facility down. You can help me if you’d like. I will destroy their research and make sure it doesn’t get in wrong hands."

Wrong hands such as himself. Bobby didn’t believe he’d destroy everything. Maybe he will keep a vial or two for himself.

Bobby groaned. "Fine." He threw up his hands. "Fine!" A few people looked over to his sudden outburst, even the couple but they didn’t pay him any more attention. Nobody here recognized them, nobody knew what they were planning. "We’re going to be in so much trouble. We should just call the X-Men."

"No. No X-Men." Daken got out his wallet as soon as the couple got up and left. He followed them, slapping a hundred Euro bill on the table before. Bobby hadn’t even finished his lunch yet but he followed Daken outside.

"What was the original plan?" Bobby asked the other male. "I mean, obviously you couldn’t know the child’s parents turn out to be like _this._ "

"No, I couldn’t." Daken smiled dangerously. Bobby believed him when he said he would’ve got Raze regardless. This just made it easier, especially easier to handle Bobby. He would’ve fought him otherwise.

"You must be happy then," Bobby said, "this way you won’t feel bad about it."

Daken shook his head. "You’re talking about yourself. I don’t care either way. In fact it makes it worse. Because now I have to deal with their shit as well instead of just getting a child from some random people."

They waited until the family farther away. They had put Raze back in the stroller and making their way through the city with Daken and Bobby following them.

"That’s what you want to hear, don’t you?" Daken said.

"No, I don’t. I wish you weren’t a heartless bastard but I’m not surprised."

Daken laughed. "No, you wish I was a heartless bastard so it’s easier to hate me. Because you want to hate me. And I’m fine with that. I’ll tell you what you want to hear. I will be whatever you want me to be."

If Daken’s goal was still to get under his skin, he succeeded. He was right. Bobby wanted to hate him. He reminded himself of Judah often, over and over. He wanted to hate him because it was easier than understanding him.

"It doesn’t matter," Bobby said. "We’re working together now."

* * *

The couple decided to go shopping for baby clothes. Great, fantastic. Now Bobby and Daken were in some random shop where one baby onesie was worth more than Bobby’s entire outfit.

"We look suspicious," Bobby said.

"No, we don’t," Daken assured him. They did and Daken stood out in general. He was Daken. Bobby didn’t have to elaborate on that, it was why most people were drawn to him— even if just to look. All that even without his powers.

"Excuse me, I have noticed you two were looking around. You’re not from here, am I right?" a young salesclerk asked them. She was pretty, bright blue eyes and blond hair. She didn’t have that much of a strong accent either. On her chest was a tag with her name on it, M. Kramer.

Daken clicked his tongue, a bit annoyed by her and Bobby stepped in. "Yeah, my, er. Husband and I are looking for some… clothes. For our, er… Child. Exactly. We’re planning to adopt!"

Kramer’s eyes widened and her lips lifted into a bright smile. She clapped her hands. "Oh, I’m so excited for you!"

Bobby laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, so are we. Right, _darling_?"

Daken blinked, surprised by the pet name. Bobby just grinned at him in return. It was payback time. "Yes, of course," he assured the woman but Bobby could see how his eyes were still on the couple who were in the middle of discussing which socks were better. The man didn’t look too impressed by it actually and was just looking down at Raze in the stroller.

"When is it due? Do you even say that when you’re adopting? And how old?"

"Ten months," Bobby said. Daken gave him a wordless look. What? If they wanted to get Raze, they’d have to have some clothes for him, right?

"Oh, follow me. Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Does it matter?" Bobby blurted out. "I mean… girl. Give me the pinkest things you have." To disguise Raze simply by putting him in pink clothes was a genius idea and Bobby wanted to pat himself on the back.

"I’ll wait here," Daken said. Bobby glared at the other male but he followed the woman to a section. She started to talk about all the things and Bobby nodded along and faked excitement. Though, a lot of those things were pretty cute. He just never really thought he’d start shopping for a baby with an enemy whom he planned to steal a child with as opposed to actually adopting.

"How long have you and your husband been married?" the woman suddenly asked.

"Uh. Three years," Bobby said.

Her expression softened. "You look good together. You’re American, right?"

"Yeah. We’re… just visiting family here. I have some family here," Bobby said. The woman smiled.

"I’ve never been to America. I’m glad gay people can adopt. You’re not wearing a ring, though."

"Oh." Bobby stared at his hand. "Yeah, well. He’s just a lot sometimes, the ring he bought has a diamond way too big and tacky, I can’t wear it all the time but he likes to show off, you know?"

She giggled. "He looks like it," she said. "But I think that’s why you fit together! You’ll make great parents, I’m sure of it."

Bobby was less sure about it. In fact he was sure Daken wouldn’t make a great dad. And neither would Bobby. It wasn’t like he’d never want children. But his life was too much and being an X-Man, he was sure it’d never actually calm down. There was a reason not many had children. And Scott and Jean just had tons of them running around from the multiverse through time traveling. It was all too much of a hassle and he wasn’t sure if he could protect the child enough. Not that it mattered anyway, he didn’t even have a boyfriend. He was just here hanging out with the guy who stabbed the only guy Bobby ever called his boyfriend. And Romeo, he guessed, but that was Teenage Bobby’s boyfriend.

She went through more clothes and by now Bobby’s hand was full of bright pink clothes.

Daken suddenly turned up next to them. "Oh, hi, darling," Bobby said.

"We need to go," Daken said and shoved a shopping bag towards Bobby’s face.

"Did they leave?" Bobby asked quietly and put the clothes in the bag.

"No, but we need to leave. Take the child."

"Wait, now?"

"Get the child!" Daken shouted and ran away. Bobby was too confused and turned to Kramer, who seemed even more confused.

"I need to go," Bobby said and followed Daken.

"I told you to get the child!"

"Not until you tell me what’s going on!"

"They’re here." Daken suddenly extended his claws with a loud _snikt_. Several costumers gasped, one even let out a high pitched scream.

"Who? Who’s here?"

"They’re after the child. Just fucking get him."

"You want me to steal the child just in front of his parents?"

"Snowflake, now is _not_ the time to argue with me! Just trust me!" Daken shouted before jumping towards a man. Everything was happening too fast, Bobby had no idea what was going on.

 _Just trust me._ It wasn’t easy to trust Daken! Right now, Bobby didn’t have another choice, did he? People started screaming and storming out of the shop, a few stayed and took out their phone because humans were stupid.

"Get out of here!" Bobby screamed. He looked around but he couldn’t find the couple. Shit. He ran outside but only to find the woman on the grounds, tears on her face.

"Where is your child?" Bobby asked and turned into ice.

"They have my child! You need to save him! Please!"

"I will," Bobby promised. What he didn’t promise was to get her her child back. She pointed at a woman, a woman with dark green skin and dilated pupils, long slender limbs and hair as red as fire.

"X-Men," she hissed. She was holding Raze in her arms who was crying and screaming. "Be quiet, child!"

"Hand him over," Bobby said.

The woman laughed. "No, I don’t think I will."

Bobby pressed his lips together. He didn’t want to fight her, what if she’d just drop the child? He had to get the child safely. "You asked for this." He slid towards her through a column under his feet. The woman jumped away, dodging his attack while still having Raze in her arms.

"Put the child away. We don’t want to get him hurt," Bobby said.

Raze was still crying loudly. "You’re making him cry," she complained and tickled the child’s cheek.

"Me? C’mon, lady. I think that’s more you. Kids love me. Right, Raze?"

"How much will it love you when I slip on ice and drop it?"

Bobby clenched his fist. "I—"

The woman suddenly raised Raze just by his arms, letting him dangle around in the air. "What if I just… let go?"

"You wouldn’t. You want the child alive."

"Do I?" She smiled at him, flashing her teeth. "I might just want to kill Wolverine’s offspring. Now, you let me walk or I—"

She dropped the child mid-air but Bobby managed to catch it by extending his ice slide, making the baby slide down it and towards Bobby’s arms. His foe, however, had a less fortunate ending. Daken stabbed her with his claws and when he pulled back, blood came out of her stomach and she collapsed on the ground.

"You didn’t have to kill her!" Bobby shouted.

"I did, and now get us out of here." Daken jumped on Bobby’s slide. Police sirens came from afar. "Now!"

Bobby looked behind his shoulder, to Raze’ adoptive mother with tears in her eyes looking at Bobby, then back to Raze who has stopped crying. He had to make a decision now.

He put Raze in Daken’s arms. "Hold him and hold onto me," Bobby said. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Daken."

"Just shut up and get us out of here," Daken said and put one of his arms around Bobby.

* * *

"We’re fucked. We’re so fucked. Shit." Bobby walked up and down. He stopped to kick a rock from the ground. "Shit."

"Calm down, snowflake. I’m sure you’ve been through worse."

And worst of all, Daken was sitting there with Raze on his lap. He just stole a child in front of all these people and he put the child in _Daken’s_ arms. They were in the middle of nowhere, Bobby had let them down in a forest as soon as they got out of everyone’s reach and shook off the police.

"Explain yourself now," he demanded.

"I wasn’t exactly honest," Daken said.

"Yeah, no shit."

Daken rolled his eyes. "I didn’t lie though. I _did_ say there would be more people after him simply for who his parents are."

"I thought you meant like in ten years! Not _immediately_!" Bobby shouted. "Why didn’t you just tell me? I would’ve helped you from the beginning if I knew some crazy people are after him! Why didn’t you just say 'my brother is in danger, people are after him' instead of saying all of this? Making me think you want to just use that innocent child?"

"Would you have believed me?"

"Yes?!" Bobby shouted. Daken got up and placed the child down. Bobby didn’t even bother to say anything about it.

"You would’ve helped me," Daken said.

"I mean. I hate you but it’s a child. You could’ve gone to the X-Men and asked for help. Or your sisters. I know you trust them," Bobby said. "At least they trust you." He had no idea if Daken trusted them as well.

"I don’t want the X-Men help. Here. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to beg you for help. I don’t need you, any of you!" Daken shouted. "You were just convenient. You were _right_ there and I needed you to keep your mouth shut about me so I let you tag along. You helping me was just a bonus. I don’t ask for help. Not from you people."

He was glaring at Bobby, his eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared. He was so close to him right now as well.

"So, it’s your fucking ego? You didn’t want to ask for help because of that?" Bobby asked.

"I know what you would’ve done. You would’ve told _him_ and—"

Raze started to cry and the two of them turned to the child on the ground. "What’s wrong?" Bobby asked and picked Raze up. "Oh." He winced at the smell. "I think we need to change his diapers."

Daken rubbed his temples. "We don’t have diapers."

"Yeah, but because you didn’t tell me earlier we had to steal the child in broad daylight where everyone could see and now the German police is after us! And I know the X-Men _and_ the Avengers would like to know about all of this as well," Bobby snapped back.

"Shut up, Snowflake. Do you always talk so much?"

"Yes, duh. It’s my thing."

Daken groaned. "We need to steal a car," he decided. "And we’re getting diapers."


	6. 6

Raze shook his head, squeezing his eyes together and wiggling his arms.

"Come on, baby. Just… aah. Open your mouth. Look. It’s delicious." Bobby smiled brightly and pretended he was eating the damn baby food himself but the child just _refused._ "Look. Wooh. The plane!"

Bobby waved his arm, letting the spoon wing back and forth and as Raze watched him with big eyes and an open mouth, he slipped that spoon in his mouth. The child didn’t know what was happening to him, he just laughed. Bobby sighed. Babies were weird and he had no idea how to handle one.

"Is he finally eating?" Daken asked.

Bobby looked up to the other male who had stepped out to make a phone call. He was leaning against the doorframe and Bobby pressed his lips together.

"Sit down, we need to talk."

"Oh, you hear that, baby brother? Mom’s angry."

"Shut up," Bobby said and gestured to the seat next to him. Daken let out a sigh and sank on the chair. Bobby turned his attention back to Raze and trying to feed him.

"We need to talk," Bobby repeated. "We were on the run before but now that we have a place to spend the night in, we can talk."

The place they were in was a small cottage that was off radar and Daken knew about. Bobby didn’t even bother to ask about small details anymore.

"I suppose we do," Daken said.

"Who were the people after him?" Bobby asked. He wiped off some food that got at the corners of Raze’ mouth with a tissue. He glanced at Daken from the corner of his eyes and he could see how his expression hardened. "You can’t lie to me or keep me in the dark. We’re in this together now. I— I literally stole a child."

Daken chuckled.

"Not funny!"

"It is kind of funny. Ice-Man, one of the great Original X-Men, out here stealing a child from a random German couple. What will your friends at the Academy think?"

Bobby glared at him. "Yeah, if you don’t tell me a good enough reason to not contact them and tell them what’s actually happening, I will." He could just imagine what they were thinking. Kitty was probably blaming herself that she trusted Bobby to go off on his own. By now they probably knew what was going on from the news. And that Daken was alive and they teamed up together to steal a _child._

"I suppose I can tell you a few things," Daken said. Raze wiggled his arms towards Daken and started babbling.

"I think he wants you to pick him up," Bobby said.

"No."

"Yeah, I wouldn’t trust you with him either."

Daken leaned back in his chair. "They were sent from Romulus," Daken explained.

"Romulus? Like Romulus and Remus?"

Daken licked his lips. Bobby noticed how tense he was even though his voice sounded like usual. Like this wasn’t a big thing but Bobby could see that it wasn’t the case. "He was the man that raised me."

Bobby’s eyes widened. "So, bad guy?"

"You think a good guy raised me?"

"Forget I asked. What does he want?"

"I suppose the same thing he did with me." Daken’s eyes went to Raze. Innocent Raze. Now that Bobby had a better look at the young child, Bobby could see a little bit of resemblance in the child. Not much, he looked a lot like Logan mostly, but there was a faint similarity.

"What was that?"

"It doesn’t matter."

"It does."

Daken shook his head. "I’m just not letting him get him. Not him or any other child. Ever again." His voice was cold, dripping with hatred. His fist which he had put on the table was clenched in a tight grip. There was more behind it but if the guy raised Daken and wanted to get a child, then he must be horrible. So horrible that even Daken had so much hatred for him that he didn’t want Raze to fall in his hands. Bobby wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what Romulus had done to Daken, how he had raised him. He could only imagine by how Daken turned out, a killer.

Bobby was conflicted. He wanted to know. He wanted to know the story behind all of this because he could feel that there was a lot to know, that this was bigger than all of this. But he also didn’t want to know because Daken had been right. It was easier to hate him, it was easier when he saw Daken as just another heartless bastard. Bobby wasn’t so sure if he liked the recent changes.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay?" Daken repeated.

"What else do you want me to say? I want to protect him too, he’s innocent." Bobby smiled at Raze.

"Cent! Cent!" the boy repeated. Bobby laughed quietly.

"But we do need to have a plan," he said. "We can’t keep being on the run. The police is searching for us, the X-Men probably now too, maybe even Avengers because they like butting into other people’s business, and Romulus’ people." Bobby pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t believe what he had gotten himself into again.

"We’re in Germany. I’m sure it’s going to be Cap Britain and the rest of his squad."

Bobby forgot Betsy’s brother and the Champions of Europe existed. His arms raised to his hair, fingers digging into it and he let out a cry. "We need to do something."

"What do you suggest?" Daken asked.

"We go to the X-Men and tell them what happened. They’ll— they’ll understand. And I’m sure your sister will want to see you again now that they know you’re alive. Which, by the way, you haven’t told me how you came back."

Daken shook his head. "No X-Men."

"But—"

"That’s _his_ child," Daken said, "I’m not giving him the child."

"Logan?" Bobby furrowed his brows. "He’s not that bad. I know you hate him but it’s his child and—"

"He doesn’t deserve to be a father," Daken said. "I will not give Raze over to him. Nobody should know who he is."

"What do you want to do then? Raise him as your own?" Bobby shot back. "You want to become the kid’s dad? Newsflash, you’re not that much better!"

"No." Daken shook his head. "Obviously I can’t raise it. But he shouldn’t either."

"It’s his child! He should know that we have it!" If Raze would be his child, Bobby would’ve wanted so as well.

"What kind of father kills his son?" Daken shouted. "What kind of father beats his son to death? What kind of father kills his son _twice_?"

Raze started crying, startled by Daken’s loud voice.

"Great, now he’s crying!" Bobby turned to Raze and picked him up. "It’s okay, baby. Your brother is just…" His voice trailed off. He looked at Daken who was trying to calm himself down. Daken didn’t even look at Bobby when he walked out of the room and outside.

Bobby breathed the fresh air in as he quietly rocked Raze back and forth. It was a bit awkward because he had no idea how to handle a child but eventually Raze started to calm down and stop crying, so he guessed it worked.

He thought about Daken’s words. He never actually asked how he died. A chill went through his spine thinking about it. He didn’t want to think about it. Daken was still Daken. It didn’t matter, none of this mattered. But Bobby was also Bobby and he couldn’t pretend like this wasn’t happening. His father killed him and people celebrated him as a hero on the X-Men and the Avengers or what other teams he was apart of. How do you deal with that? With people looking up to him when he killed you?

"Bah?" Raze asked. Bobby pressed his lips together.

"Yeah, bah," he repeated. Logan was his friend. He had made mistakes but so have all of them. But Daken had every right to hate him. Even if Bobby was sure he was the one who attacked Logan, no son deserved dying at the hands of their father like that. And he wasn’t evil. He wanted to protect Raze, from Romulus, the other seemingly father figure in his life, and from Logan. He wanted his brother to grow up and live a better life than Daken had.

How could Bobby argue against that?

* * *

"No ropes tonight?" Bobby jokingly asked right before they went to bed.

Daken was staring down at Raze, who was seemingly asleep. "Not in front of my brother," he said. The cottage was small, a bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen. It had all you needed but only one bed, of course.

Bobby looked at Raze, at how his chest moved up and down slowly. He didn’t trust Daken with Raze but there wasn’t much of a choice they had, right? He lied down next to Raze and smiled at the little boy.

"It’s a good thing neither of us tosses and turns,“ Bobby said. He was still scared of accidentally just rolling over and landing on Raze though. "I could sleep on the floor."

Daken shook his head. "Just get to sleep. Tomorrow we will make a plan." His voice was quiet and Bobby realized he was trying to keep it low so Raze wouldn’t wake up. The small change made Bobby uncomfortable.

"Daken, I…" Bobby nibbled on his lower lip, trying to find words. He didn’t want to apologize. He wasn’t wrong, the X-Men were their best shot. But he could understand where Daken was coming from.

Daken put his index finger to his lips. "Tomorrow," he said with a soft voice. Bobby blinked and nodded.

"Okay." He turned around to his back so he wouldn’t have to look at Daken and closed his eyes.

* * *

When Bobby woke up, Raze and Daken were nowhere to be seen. A wave of panic went through Bobby’s body. Of course, he shouldn’t have trusted Daken. He shouldn’t have lied down next to his enemy without any care, with a child between them. A child Daken had expressed several times he had no intention of handing over to the authorities or the X-Men. He was so stupid, so god damn stupid.

Bobby jumped up from the bed but then he heard sounds at the nearby kitchen. Relief washed over his body as he quietly went into the room. Daken had Raze in his arms and he was bottle feeding the boy, rocking his brother gently back and forth.

Bobby blinked and rubbed his eyes. This couldn’t be real. He pinched himself and it hurt. He wasn’t dreaming. Daken was standing in the kitchen with his baby brother in his arms. And the way he looked at Raze made something inside Bobby turn. It was wrong to see Daken like that, with such a soft look on his face. He wasn’t smiling but there was something in his eyes, a little spark that made Bobby feel like he was seeing something he shouldn’t have seen. Part of Daken the other male didn’t want to show him.

"Don’t look at me like that," Daken said and looked up to meet Bobby’s eyes.

"Morning to you too," Bobby said. "I was… I thought you were gone when I woke up."

Daken eyed him before walking over to him and handing him Raze. "You take him. I have no idea how to deal with kids. He was crying and I couldn’t make him stop."

"He did stop now though," Bobby said and took Raze and the bottle. "And besides… when was he crying? I didn’t hear it, I’m sure I would’ve woken up."

"I went outside."

The fact that Daken went out so Raze’ crying wouldn’t wake Bobby up was left unsaid between them. Daken must’ve noticed how it sounded as well though, he turned away.

Bobby sat down at the table and set the bottle aside, rocking Raze. "This is how you do it, right? I know nothing about kids."

Daken let out a deep sigh and took Raze again, holding the boy close to him and patting him on the back before he burped. Raze touched Daken’s face and Daken furrowed his brows in irritation.

From their little shopping for necessaries, Bobby had picked up some cornflakes and milk. They had different brands here in Germany and not the ones Bobby preferred to his disappointment, but it’ll do. He poured himself a bowl.

"How do you know so much about kids?" he asked.

"Who said I do?"

"I can tell."

"I had a brother once," Daken said.

Surprise crept up on Bobby’s face. "Really? What happened to him?"

Daken licked his lips and smiled. "I killed him."

Bobby frowned. "You didn’t."

"Why don’t you believe me?" Daken was carrying Raze to his side, playing with one of Raze’ little fists. "You do remember who I am, right?"

"Was he… one of Logan’s?"

"No. He was the child of the people who raised me and he was a child and I killed him." Daken sat down across Bobby.

There it was, the Daken again. It was a lot of information to process. First, there had been people who raised him, besides Romulus. Second, he was telling him he killed his brother who had been just a child, and here Bobby was letting him carry Raze. And third, was it true? Bobby couldn’t tell if Daken said it to remind him what he was, or to make it easier to hate him as he said before. But it didn’t help at all. It made Bobby just more irritated and confused.

"I don’t know if I can believe anything you say," Bobby replied. "So, I don’t believe you."

Daken shrugged. "I don’t care what you believe."

Bobby shoved more cornflakes in his mouth, unsure of what to say. He eyed Raze. Would Daken hurt him? He got him away because he didn’t want Romulus to get his hands on Raze. Didn’t that mean he wanted to protect Raze? He didn’t want Logan to have him either after all his father had done to Daken. He couldn’t be bad, he _cared,_ even just a little bit. He cared in the way that mattered.

"I need to call the X-Men," Bobby said. "And you can’t stop me."

"Yeah, I suppose you do." Daken sighed. "We’re meeting up with someone today."

Bobby glanced at Raze who was now fumbling with the collar of Daken’s shirt, dragging it until Daken glared at the child.

"You have a plan, don’t you?"

"You’re calling the X-Men and tell them about Alexander." For a moment Bobby forgot the name Raze adoptive parents gave him. "Don’t tell them it’s Raze," Daken said. "At least not yet. Tell them about his parents. We will leave Raze with the person we’re meeting up with and we will bring down their lab."

Bobby held up his spoon. "Wait, I get to say some things here. First of all, fine. I won’t tell them _yet._ You hate him and I’m sure for good reasons but he has the right to know."

From this close, Bobby could see how Daken was clenching his teeth by the way he tensed.

"Second of all, we’re doing this right. We can’t leave Raze with his adoptive parents, I agree. But the media is involved in this and they’re rich as fuck. They’ll come for us and he can’t live in hiding forever." Bobby’s voice lowered. "And I don’t want to be known for Iceman the Baby Kidnapper."

Daken laughed.

"I’ll call the X-Men, I’ll ask about it. Maybe if we can prove with their lab that they’re working against mutant laws— however, they are in Germany… and prove that Logan is his father, we can win," Bobby explained. "And we’re not just going to destroy it. We’re going to need evidence."

Daken pressed his lips together. "Okay."

"Okay?" Bobby didn’t expect Daken to agree to any of this.

"Yes. If you can manage to tell them to not interfere until we’re finished," Daken said. Bobby wasn’t so sure about that, he could only imagine what Kitty would tell him when he called her. She had trusted him and he had told her everything was all right, that he was taking care of something and it would be over soon. And then she’d see on the news how he was stealing a child with _Daken._ As much as Bobby insisted on calling them for help, he was already dreading the phone call he’d do. And he had to lie to them. He could just tell them it was Raze, that this child wasn’t just taken because of its adoptive parents were doing illegal research on mutants. But he knew everything would change.

Not only would Logan be involved, but Bobby was sure so would Mystique. It was best to not tell them yet.

"Yes," Bobby assured. "Who are we leaving Raze with? I don’t trust your people. Or you."

Daken leaned over the table, closer to Bobby. "I think you will have to, snowflake."

Bobby chewed on the inside of his cheeks. "You expect me to trust you?"

"As much as I trust you to call the X-Men and not tell them who he is. As much as I trust you to lie down in bed with me and not be gone the next morning with him," Daken said. "As much as you hate me, you will have to learn to trust me."

Bobby swallowed. "What about you? Do you trust me?"

"No," Daken straight out said. "And I’d never tell anyone to trust me either. But we don’t have a choice."

Bobby stared down at his now almost empty bowl. "So, we hate each other but don’t have any other choice but to trust each other," he concluded.

"I’m not happy about it either," Daken said. "But you have to admit there are worse people to team up with." He winked at Bobby.

Bobby was sure about one thing though, Daken _had_ managed to get under his skin.

* * *

"What am I doing?" Bobby asked quietly. He was asking this Raze who just tilted his head and looked at him with his blue eyes. Logan’s eyes, the same shade of dark blue which Gabby, Laura, Jimmy, and Daken had. He thought of the man the future Raze grew up, blue skin and red hair, with a smirk so sharp it could cut through the air and claws so deadly, that Daken doubted this innocent child could ever grow up like that. Raze was just a baby, fat limbs and cheeks and big curious eyes.

But everyone started out like this, including Daken.

"You questioning your life choices again?" Daken asked with a tint of amusement in his voice. He was smiling, his lips turned upwards and even though Daken was wearing shades, Bobby could imagine how he looked like underneath them. He had spent way too much time around him.

"Yeah," he said, thinking about the phone call he had just a few hours ago that resulted in Bobby in the end just hanging up on them.

"Think about the good things," Daken said.

"What good things?"

"You get to spend time with me," Daken replied.

"That’s not a good thing."

"Why not? I’m a delight."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Just because you’re pretty doesn’t mean you’re a delight."

"You think I’m pretty?"

Bobby shrugged. "I’m not blind. Besides, it’s not really a good thing when that’s your only redeeming feature."

Daken laughed and rang the bell again. "C’mon, snowflake. Admit that it’s been fun. Better than taking accounting classes."

Bobby frowned. "Wait, how do you know about—"

The door opened and a middle-aged Asian woman opened the door. She was smiling instantly when she saw Daken and said something in a soft gentle voice. Japanese, Bobby assumed when Daken replied and she pulled him in a hug. Then, she turned to Raze and cooed at the child, totally ignoring Bobby in the process.

Bobby cleared his throat and she looked up, her dark brown eyes narrowing. "Iceman," she said.

"Uh, yeah." The way she said it didn’t sound like she was too fond of him. That wasn’t something new, a lot of people didn’t like the X-Men. It was still weird to see this woman act so overly friendly with Daken and so cold with Bobby.

"Can we come in?" Daken asked.

"Of course." She stepped inside and Daken and Bobby entered.

The place wasn’t big but it seemed comfortable, with a lot of flowers and different kind of pictures framed on the wall, neither of them fitting in style and color with each other.

"Ojamashimasu," Daken said. He took off his shoes so Bobby did as well, the woman holding her hands out. Bobby realized she was asking for Raze, so he looked over to Daken who nodded and he did. He immediately cursed himself for just blindly trusting Daken but that was their deal now, right? Trusting each other despite their differences because they didn’t have another chance.

"Sit down in the living room," the woman said with a slight accent, "I put on some tea." She left with Raze in her arms.

"Don’t worry," Daken said quietly to Bobby, "she’s okay."

"If you tell me not to worry, I’ll worry more," Bobby whispered back.

"Smart." Daken smiled and touched Bobby’s cheek with his thumb, gently stroking it. A shiver went through Bobby’s spine— but not an unpleasant one and that was worse. Because Bobby knew Daken’s pheromones had no effect on him and _yet_ here he was feeling weird about the short touch.

It made Bobby hate Daken even more because he didn’t _care._ He didn’t notice how Bobby froze at the touch and how conflicted and irritated he was feeling because of it. Or how frustrated Bobby was because he actually wanted the moment to last longer. And Bobby _hated_ it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i honest to god dont know how to write kids


	7. 7

Bobby sighed and followed him to it, settling down on the couch which had way too many pillows that necessary.

"Who is she?" Bobby asked.

"You can call me Tenma," the woman said as she entered the place. Besides the tray with a teapot and few small glasses she was carrying, she was also carrying Raze in a baby carrier. Raze was holding a stuffed Pikachu doll in his hand, smiling widely. "Don’t worry. I will protect him with my life."

She put down the tray on the table in front of them and sat down, a smile on her face. Raze held up the Pikachu towards Bobby.

"Pika!"

Bobby laughed. "Yeah, that’s Pikachu."

Daken spoke to the woman in Japanese and Bobby nudged his side after a while. "What are you talking about?"

"We’re going to stay here with her for a while," Daken replied. "She’s a mutant. She can block us from other mutants."

"What do you mean?"

"Shield us from certain powers. From telepaths for example," Daken explained. "Or from those with a good nose." He meant Logan, of course.

Tenma smiled. "I got you new ID’s as well," she said. "Just in case."

* * *

Bobby cursed under his breath. He was going to look so bad, he knew it. Some people could pull off being blond when that wasn’t their natural hair color. For example, Emma Frost. One of the most famous blondes even though her natural hair was brown. Bobby couldn’t even imagine her being a brunette at all, everything about Emma was bright, from her hair to her eyes, to her makeup, to her all-white wardrobe. It looked good on her.

It wouldn’t look good on Bobby despite everything about him being light as well. At least when he was Ice Man. He sighed and looked into the mirror.

"I look so stupid," Bobby said out loud to nobody in particular. "They do say blondes have more fun." He waved around the brush and grinned, trying to convince himself that this wasn’t a total disaster. "Maybe I’ll know what they’re all talking about. Blond isn’t bad. Warren is blond and he’s— okay, bad example."

He sighed and leaned over the sink. "Sure, Bobby. Go to Germany with me. It’ll be fun. I’m just really creepy and drag you with a baby to this woman who tells me I need to dye my hair. It’s fun. Perfect. I’m having the best days of my life and I’m getting a makeover. Maybe it’d be more fun if the company was better—"

"Wow, rude."

Bobby almost dropped the brush he was holding in his hands, fumbling with it mid-air when he realized Daken was standing at the door. He raised his arm and pointed at Daken with the brush. "Can’t you knock?"

"The door’s open."

"Yeah, the hair dye smells weird, had to open it and the window," Bobby said. Daken tilted his head.

"Seems like you’re struggling," he said.

"It’s totally unfair. Why do I need to dye my hair?" Bobby complained. Daken smiled and came closer, taking the brush. The short touch of his fingers against Bobby’s made him freeze for a second (not in a literal way).

"Because we’re trying not to be found," Daken explained and pushed Bobby towards the bathtub. Bobby obliged and sat down at the edge of it, sighing. "You’re ruining your shirt, take it off."

Bobby looked down at his shirt. Daken was right, he _was_ ruining it. "You could’ve just said it straight out that you want to undress me," he joked.

"I just did," Daken said and pulled on the shirt. "Take it off."

Bobby gritted his teeth at the way Daken said it. With a low husky voice, saying the words slowly out loud. "Okay, okay." He took off the shirt. "Happy?"

"Yes, snowflake." Daken smiled and nudged Bobby’s knees with his. Bobby closed his eyes for a short second, inhaled sharply, exhaled and opened his eyes before he opened his legs to let Daken stand between them.

"Why aren’t _you_ dyeing your hair? Or at least cut it. You stand out."

"Tenma knows I wouldn’t do it," Daken explained and took some of the gloves from the package, putting them on. "I’ll just wear a cap. Besides, we’re in Düsseldorf."

"I don’t even know how to spell that," Bobby said.

Daken smiled and Bobby immediately dropped his gaze. He didn’t want to see Daken’s smile at the same time he could feel his hands in his hair. It was a bad combination. He didn’t like how it felt because it felt _nice._ Bobby liked the way Daken was touching him, the fingers lightly brushing his hair, burying themselves in it as was taking over the job.

Bobby folded his hands together and concentrated on his fingers.

„Many Japanese people are living in this city. Only Japantown in Germany," Daken explained. "All Asians look the same to white people anyway. They won’t notice me."

"They would. You stand out," Bobby blurted out. Daken pulled on his hair, forcing Bobby’s head back to meet his eyes.

"That a compliment, snowflake?"

"Or an insult. Pick one," Bobby replied.

Daken narrowed his eyes and let go again. Bobby lowered his gaze again.

"About the phone call," Daken started.

"I didn’t tell them it’s Raze," Bobby said. "I lied for you though. I don’t know why. I’ll probably regret it later, won’t I?"

Daken chuckled. "Of course. That’s not what I wanted to ask though."

"If it’s about Logan… he did try to talk to me but I hung up."

Daken’s movements stopped for a short while but he immediately continued. Bobby closed his eyes. Might as well enjoy it even though he had Daken standing between his legs and his fingers in his hair, and the bathroom smelt disgustingly like the hair dye.

"What about Laura?"

Oh, that’s what he wanted to know. "Why don’t you call her yourself? You trust her, don’t you?"

Daken didn’t reply.

"Her and Gabby… you wouldn’t have to be here with me. I know they’d come in a heartbeat here to help you," Bobby said.

"I don’t want to put them in this position," Daken explained.

"But you don’t care about me?"

"Of course not. Despite all this flirting, we’re not friends."

Bobby blushed. "I’m not flirting with you!"

"Of course you’re not."

Bobby squeezed Daken’s legs with his knees. "Shut up, I’m not. If you don’t want to with your sisters, how about Johnny? C’mon, I don’t know what’s up with you two but he seems to trust you and like you. And he’s, well. _The Human Torch._ Kind of a dork but people love him."

"You talked about me?"

Bobby shrugged and looked up. "Yeah, I told him you suck and he told me you don’t."

"He didn’t say that. He does know I suck."

Bobby frowned. A few seconds passed and then it clicked. "Did you. Did you sleep with Johnny Storm?!"

A smile returned on Daken’s lips. "I don’t kiss and tell."

"Bullshit! I can’t believe this. He sleeps with you and when _I_ came out to me he just texted me 'flame ON'. I’m done. Fuck The Ice and Fire Duo. I can’t believe he didn’t tell me. Flame On. Idiot."

Daken laughed. "Yeah, I can imagine him saying that."

Bobby smiled as well. "Okay, I take the idiot back. He’s an idiot but he’s…" His voice died down as soon as he realized he would’ve said _our_ idiot. "So. You and Johnny. Did you like, date? Wait, you’re not still dating, are you? No, you died."

Daken rolled his eyes. "No, we didn’t. What is this? Girl’s Talk? We’re having a sleepover?"

"Technically, we _are._ There’s only one guest bedroom and we’re sharing a bed." _Again,_ Bobby thought. "Face to face talk in our pajamas and exchanging stories about our guys. Oh, wait. You _stabbed_ mine."

Daken dropped his arms. "Still bitter about that?"

"He was innocent!"

"You _impaled_ me and left me to bleed," Daken reminded him. "Just because I have a healing factor doesn’t mean I don’t _feel_ pain. That’s Gabby."

Bobby looked away. "Okay. Sorry. Is that what you want to hear? I’m apologizing because I’m the good guy. And you fucking kidnapped my student. And no bullshit about he chose to go. You took him and manipulated him. And you don’t care what happened to him."

Daken stepped away and dropped the brush in the sink, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You keep bringing Zachary up. Alright, I’ll bite. What happened to him?"

"He wasn’t stable after you left," Bobby said. He looked down on his feet. "You just left him. He looked up to you, you know? He wanted to impress you so badly and then you left and it broke him. He was admitted to a mental hospital but then more shit happened with Typhoid Mary and—"

Daken’s eyes widened. "Is that true?"

"Why the fuck would I lie?" Bobby had seen the boy himself. He had felt so helpless and blamed himself. It wasn’t his fault though. It had been Daken’s fault.

"I didn’t know."

Bobby scoffed. "Yeah, apparently you didn’t. Just dropped him and ran away."

"I was dead."

"You know what I mean!"

Daken looked away. "I don’t care about you or the X-Men. But I didn’t want to hurt him," he admitted.

"You think I’m believing this?"

"I don’t care what you believe," Daken snapped at him. "I realized what I became. _You_ guys were supposed to be the better ones. The ones to clean up my mess. I saw what I’ve made him become. He was too much like me."

Bobby frowned. "What do you mean?"

Daken shook his head and grabbed the hair dye’s instructions. "It says to leave it in for 30 minutes." He was about to leave but Bobby jumped up.

"Stop changing the subject! You keep confusing me!" He pressed Daken against the door. "This conversation isn’t over!"

"It is over when I say it is."

Bobby shook his head. He was so close to Daken like this and he was pissed. Why did he always have to speak in riddles? It was one thing to not open himself up to Bobby another to just leave him hanging. To be fair, Bobby didn’t want Daken to open himself up. But with every glimpse of the other male he got, he just wanted to know more. When he touched a subject just briefly and dropped it again, Bobby wanted to press him. He wanted to know what Daken meant, he wanted to understand him.

And that pissed him off even more than the fact that Daken just refused to elaborate after he started. It pissed Bobby off how for some reason Daken opened up to Johnny but not to him. What was the difference between them? Why would he trust Johnny so much but not him? Was it because of Logan? And why did Bobby even care about that? There was just _too_ much about Daken. He talked as if he was an open book but he wasn’t and Bobby wanted to _know_. And most of all he wanted to know why Daken had such an effect on him even without his powers.

"You can’t always expect for us to clean up your mess," Bobby said. "The moment you took him in, he became your responsibility. I refuse to believe you don’t care. I know you do, I can tell. I didn’t think so before, I thought you just used him for your sick games but you did care, didn’t you? You cared about Zach."

Up close, Bobby could see the way Daken’s expressions hardened. "You know nothing, snowflake. Let go or you’ll regret ever laying your hands on me."

Bobby hadn’t even noticed he was still holding him against the door. He dropped his arms. "Fine," he replied, "go away and brood. Go, continue being the evil villain everyone thinks you are."

"Shut up!" Daken shouted at him. He had lost it, Bobby thought at that moment. "Just _drop_ it. I don’t owe you an explanation. I didn’t ask you for your apology either. I’m _used_ to it by now from you so-called heroes."

He stormed out of the bathroom and Bobby didn’t even move. After a few seconds, he slammed the door shut. Ice spread from his palm over to the entire door, to its edges and part creeping up on the walls. Bobby cursed even more at that.

* * *

Tenma had laid out a futon for them in the guest bedroom. It was worse than the other times, even though Bobby wasn’t tied up to Daken because he was still angry at him from their conversation before. And judging from the way Daken looked at him, Bobby could tell he was too.

Bobby angrily stared at the ceiling.

"Stop it," Daken suddenly spoke up.

"I didn’t even say anything!" Bobby shouted.

"Yeah, well, stop it."

"Stop what? You’re so infuriating!" Bobby groaned.

Daken sighed. "I can just _hear_ you thinking."

Bobby turned his head to face Daken. "Last time I checked, you weren’t a mind reader. I wish you knew what I was thinking so you’d know what I think of you."

That was a lie, he realized as soon as Daken turned his head as well. Bobby didn’t want Daken to read his mind. Sure, he was still angry and mad at him but Daken didn’t need to know how Bobby thought he was handsome. He didn’t need to know how mesmerizing Bobby found it to just watch Daken’s face, from the long eyelashes, to the slight curve of his lips, the high cheekbones he suddenly had the urge to let his fingers run over that Bobby had to hold his own hands to hold back. He swallowed hard and turned away because it was even worse when he dropped his gaze, knowing that Daken barely wore anything to sleep.

"You’re not going to sleep any time soon, will you?"

"I’m not saying anything so I don’t think it matters," Bobby said. "Just… turn away and sleep or something. I’ll just… go watch TV until I pass out. Maybe I’ll just take the couch." The couch was pretty tiny and looked uncomfortable but it was better than to spend the night with Daken in such close space with all the conflicting feelings he had towards him.

Daken sat up. "I’m uneasy. Let’s fight."

Bobby blinked, staring at Daken’s back from the darkness. It was too dark to properly inspect the tattoo but he could see the dark lines that made up most of Daken’s back. "You’re kidding, right?"

"No. The roof seemed nice."

"What if anyone sees us?"

"Nobody will."

Bobby cursed and sat up. "No powers," he said. "Just to— get the frustration out."

Daken grinned. "Oh?"

"Shut up."

* * *

As he already thought, Daken was better at hand to hand combat than Bobby. Bobby relied a lot on his powers and he wasn’t useless without them but he wasn’t Daken. He often forgot that Daken had lived for way longer than he had, he could be Bobby’s grandfather age-wise. Or even older. Over the decades, Daken had honed his skills, perfect with and without his claws but Bobby didn’t go down without a fight.

And he did fight until he was thrown down again and again by Daken, each time claiming he wasn’t tired yet and wanted another round. Until he was sweating and breathing heavily because he wasn’t satisfied yet. Fighting Daken for no reason just to take out his frustration was still _frustrating._ He should be satisfied but Bobby doubted that even if he won, he’d be happy. It wasn’t enough to dodge Daken’s attack and get thrown around by him, or attack Daken and land some punches. It wasn’t what Bobby wanted but he wasn’t sure what he wanted.

"Are you tired yet, snowflake?" Daken asked when he managed to land another punch at Bobby’s side.

Bobby winced. "No. I can go all night."

Daken smiled. "Doesn’t every lover want to hear these words?"

"I’m not your lover."

Daken threw Bobby down, stomach and cheek meeting the cold ground. Daken straddled his back and held him down by his head. "No, you’re not," Daken said, his fingers digging into Bobby’s now blond hair as he moved closer. His lips were so close to Bobby’s ears, so close that Bobby could feel his hot breath against it, a stark contrast to the cold air of the night. "You’re not. But you’d like to be."

"Shut up, I don’t." Bobby wiggled under Daken though the other male didn’t flinch at all.

"We said no powers but some of them I can’t turn off," Daken said. He was still so close and Bobby’s heart raced faster. "I can hear your heartbeat. I can smell it on you. I know it’s not because of the fight. I know how humans smell like when they _want_."

Bobby blushed. "Maybe you’re just coming up with shit," he said. He turned his head as much as Daken let him to meet his eyes. "Probably just saying all of that and projecting because it’s actually _you_ who wants."

Daken licked his lips. "Who said I don’t?" He let Bobby’s hair go and ran his hand over the back of Bobby’s neck. "I’m not a fool, snowflake. Only fools would say no to you."

"But you hate me."

"Sex and hate aren’t exclusive."

"You’re crazy." Bobby pushed Daken off of him. "I’m going to shower." _Cold, very cold._ He needed it right now after Daken’s words.

"What, not inviting me with you?"

Bobby just left as fast as he could. If there was something worse than traveling around with your enemy, it was being attracted to said enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we're getting somewhere!  
> Besides I was like 3 weeks ago old when I found out Zach was in Typhoid Fever and was even more disturbed. The poor boy literally can't take a break.
> 
> And yeah, Johnny and Daken were a thing and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise.
> 
> also i wish i was joking but just yesterday a white person told me we all look the same to them so 🥴


	8. 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how i made it so slow paced i'm sorry

Raze had been just fed the first bottle of the day and was now lying happily in Bobby’s lap. He loved the Pikachu plushie that Tenma had given him and didn’t want to let it go even when he had tried to bottle feed him. Bobby didn’t even try to argue anymore, he was a little bit tired of Raze crying randomly for no reason. Okay, it wasn’t for no reason. He wasn’t one year old yet but old enough to know something was wrong. Sometimes he cried and slurred "mama" and it broke Bobby’s heart, questioning everything he was doing.

Right now though, Raze was happy and watching TV. "Pika!" he shouted when Pikachu came on screen, pointing towards the TV with his tiny and fat fists.

"Where is Akihiro?" Tenma asked as she entered the living room. The woman had her hair tied in a tight knot in the back and was wearing a bathrobe over her pajamas, in her hands was a coffee mug with a text on it he couldn’t understand. Probably German. Her fingers were colored in hues of red and blue, he had noticed she was an artist when he noticed several paintings being stacked next to each other against a wall.

"Akihiro?" Bobby repeated. He was caught off guard by her using his given name.

"You do know that is his name, right?" she asked and sat down next to Bobby. A smile appeared on her face when her eyes dropped on Raze who giggled at her.

"Yeah, I. Just don’t hear anyone call him that, ever," Bobby explained. _Akihiro._ He had never even heard that name come out of Johnny, Laura or Gabby’s mouths.

Tenma huffed. "I am _not_ calling him Daken," she said and shook her head.

"It’s the name he chose, didn’t he?"

"It’s a bad name," she said. "Do you even know what it means?"

Bobby blinked. "No? Is it something goofy? Sex god or something? Oh shit, I shouldn’t use words like this in front of the baby. Fuck, I did it again. Oh, _pancakes_. Don’t listen." He covered Raze ears and Tenma laughed.

"You should ask him yourself someday," she said.

"I doubt it. He doesn’t really like talking about himself." Bobby’s shoulders slumped. "I don’t blame him. I’m not exactly fond of talking to my enemy about myself either. It’s fine, we are supposed to… hate each other."

Tenma raised her eyebrows and took a sip from her coffee. "It seems like you’re just telling yourself that. Akihiro is complicated but it is worth it."

Bobby pursed his lips. "How do you know him? Why do you trust him?"

"I’ve known him all my life. He knew my mother, back in Japan," she explained. "She helped him forge fake IDs as well, taught me everything about it. She got in trouble as people in our expertise often do, and he helped her get rid of them."

Bobby could only imagine what that meant.

"I was only six years old when we arrived here," Tenma recalled with a light sigh. "My father died during all of this. We are in his debt but that is not the reason I am helping him."

Bobby’s eyes went back to the TV. The team was right now fighting against Team Rocket, as always winning effortlessly. He wished things would be as easy as it was in children’s cartoons. You defeat the bad guys, you save the day, everything is nice and just another adventure. "Why are you then?"

"He has always been in my life," Tenma said. "When I was smaller he taught me how to use a knife. When the men came and killed my mother ten years ago, he saved me from captivity. Is he a good person? Is teaching a child how to handle a knife something a good person would do? No. He did not help my family from the goodness of his heart, he did it so my mother and now me, would help him. We have information, resources, I forge fake papers." She sighed and reached out to Raze, gently rubbing his cheek with her hand. "But I would always help him."

Bobby was unsure what to do with this information. "You telling me this doesn’t change anything."

Tenma smiled. "I know but I’ve also seen the way you look at him. I know you know there is more to him than what you want to see."

Bobby scowled. She was right and but he didn’t like hearing it. "Is that why you made us married on our IDs?"

Tenma laughed. "No, I didn’t know about your relationship when he requested it. It just made the most sense to me. Do you not like your new identity?"

"I’m a _blonde._ I look pretty stupid and my eyebrows are too dark to match the rest of me. The others are going to make fun of me so much, oh god." Bobby buried his face in Raze hair.

"I think it looks good," Daken’s familiar voice came. Bobby looked up and Raze stretched out his arms towards Daken. The other male was leaning against the living room’s door, wearing his hair in a loose bun.

"I think he wants you to carry him," Bobby said.

"I thought you don’t trust me with children?"

Bobby sighed. "You somehow handled her, didn’t you?" He nodded towards Tenma. It was still weird to know she was younger than Daken despite looking like she could be his mother.

Daken looked at Raze and shook his head. "I’m not going to carry you and watch Pokémon with you."

"You know he’s ten months old, right? Why are you talking to him like he’s a whole grown-ass child?" It was amusing in a way. How serious Daken spoke to this child that didn’t know what he was saying.

Daken huffed. "He understands. Right?"

Raze replied with something incomprehensible and Bobby laughed. "You’re impossible."

"Come."

Bobby turned to Tenma who took Raze in her arms and smiled at the child before he got up and followed Daken out. They entered what Bobby guessed was Tenma’s office. On the table was a blueprint, some papers and IDs swept to the site to make some space for it.

"Is this for the facility?" Bobby asked.

"Yes." Daken leaned over. "Lammerding."

"Lammerding," Bobby repeated. "That’s… their last names. That’s the name for their company? That’s so fucking lame. Lame-erding."

Daken laughed. "I don’t think that’s the point is. The point is we need to discuss how to get in."

"I thought you’re more of a punch first, ask second guy. You just go in, punch— no, wait. You stab the security guards and trash the place."

Daken raised his eyebrows. "Please, snowflake, I have more class than that. Besides, you wanted to do this the right way."

"You’re doing this for me?" Bobby theatrically clutched his chest. He was overplaying how he was kind of touched Daken played by his rules. Though they’d later see how much he’d follow those.

"Don’t play coy. I know you’re touched."

Bobby pursed his lips. "So, how are we going to do this?"

Daken sighed. "We’re way too deep into this. We will need to get to their main processor and hack into it."

"I can’t hack. I studied accounting not hacking. I’m not— I’m not the science guy. Are you?"

"Do I look like I am?"

"You were born like eighty years ago, so I guess no. You’re probably like one of those grandpas who don’t know what Instagram and Snapchat are.“ Bobby narrowed his eyes. "But you also look like some E-Boy."

"What is an E-boy and is it an insult?"

"One of the students explained it to me," Bobby started. "Technically he isn’t a student anymore, Quentin gra—" He stopped mid-sentence when he realized how ridiculous it was that he was explaining Daken what an E-Boy is. Just last night he had taken a very cold and frustrating shower, shoving all the things he wanted to do to Daken and Daken to do to him in the very back of his mind. Not all of them very actually of the sexual nature because he was still angry at him. And now here he was joking around with him like he was an old friend. "Never mind, forget it. So, you don’t."

"No, we will need help."

Bobby chewed on his lower lip. "You got some contacts again?"

Daken looked down on the blueprint and Bobby followed his gaze. The building was huge with the west wing of it being locked from the rest of the building. Bobby guessed that’s where they did their illegal experiments, at least not in German law. "We have several options."

Bobby blinked until it clicked what Daken was trying to say. "You’d— you’d be okay if I called the X-Men for help?"

"I don’t _like_ it but I’m sure they’re going to keep bothering us if we don’t give them what they want. Make this look like a mission they planned, like we’re working for them and not them for _us._ It’ll certainly get them off our backs." Daken was still not looking at him, one strand of his hair was falling into his face. Bobby had the urge to brush it out of Daken’s face.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked him in a gentler tone than he had ever talked to Daken before. "You don’t need to. You can just take Raze and leave. You don’t need to… do this. Don’t you only ever do what benefits _you_? You might be a mutant but you don’t care about mutant rights, do you?"

Daken’s jaw clenched for a short moment until he lifted his gaze and met Bobby’s eyes. A sharp smile was on his lips, lips Bobby shouldn’t look at but couldn’t help it. "Maybe I just like to spend more time with you, snowflake."

"I know that’s not it," Bobby said. "I mean, I guess I know that you aren’t heartless. And that you do care but I don’t think you really care about the greater good or something. That sounds like bullshit."

Daken laughed. "Are we really going to talk about all this?" he asked. "Why are you psychoanalyzing me so much? Do you really want to know how I tick? Believe me, greater men have tried and failed."

Bobby made a face. "You’re being dramatic."

"Maybe I just want to kick those German bastards in the face. Maybe I want to rub it in that I stole their child and expose them of their dirty little secrets to the government and take everything they have left. Or maybe I just like the thrill and it’s been just _way_ too long since I killed. Maybe it’s the Death Seed in me."

Bobby forgot that the Death Seed was still a thing. "Is it? The Death Seed?"

"Kiss me again and find out." Daken was smiling and for a second Bobby just thought "fuck it," and wanted to lean in. He knew Daken was provoking him but it worked. It worked just too well. He could use it as an excuse to finally give in but Bobby wasn’t weak.

"Pass," he choked out. "Okay, I don’t need your reasoning but just stop killing people."

* * *

Sometimes Bobby wished to be back in the X-Mansion with the other original X-Men. The five of them and Xavier when it didn’t feel like the world could collapse any second. Sure, they fought bad guys and villains and Magneto, but they were all Teenagers and they did things Teenagers do. Which was being dumb and carefree, Bobby the most of them being the youngest of them.

So many things have changed over the past ten years. No, more than ten years. It was surreal to think how they all started and where they were now. Which was also why looking at their younger selves, those time-displaced versions of themselves was so weird. He missed it, he missed when times were easier, when Bobby could just make fun of Scott not having the balls to ask Jean out, or when Bobby always dragged Hank and later the entire gang to his favorite coffee shop, Coffee A Go-Go, because he had a crush on the barista.

Not that he actually had a crush on Zelda but it was fun.

No matter what has happened to them, how much shit they’ve been through, they stay friends. There’s just something connecting the five of them that Bobby didn’t feel with anyone else. They were family and family was worried about one another.

"I have to ask this, Bobby," Hank said from the other side of the phone. "He isn’t threatening you?"

"No," Bobby replied. "C’mon. Do I sound like he’s holding me at gunpoint? Besides, I can assure you I can _easily_ defeat him. Omega level now, remember? The only other one of us that can take me out is Jean."

Hank sighed. "Mind wash you? Does he hold something against you?"

"Hank. My boy. My man. How long have we known each other? You and me— we’re best buds. You know me, I’m not lying. And besides, this does sound like, er. An important mission, right? So, can you do what I’m asking for?"

"Yes, we can," Hank replied immediately. Of course, he could. Bobby wasn’t sure if he meant himself with "we" or just someone else. Bobby wasn’t a science guy— he wasn’t sure how far Hank’s expertise went. "We’re all just worried. Maybe if you stay put and send someone over—"

"Stop!" Bobby interrupted him annoyingly. "I’m not being threatened. Or mind washed. Or manipulated in any sort of way. You know I’m resistant to his pheromones. We’ve teamed up with worse guys. He’s not… not irredeemable. We all have made mistakes. You should know."

Hank went quiet for a second on the other line. "You’re right," he said. "But I don’t think you’re the one who should deal with him. X-23…"

"First of all, I’m sure _Laura_ has other things to do and I’m in Germany now." Bobby got more annoyed by how much Hank insisted on this. It wasn’t even Hank, he was sure so did everyone else. They thought he was reckless and maybe that he wasn’t thinking properly. They often thought he didn’t, he was sure maybe they still saw the child in him. An image hard to get rid of when you were the youngest for a long time. "And besides me and Daken. I— Uh. I. We’re dating!"

"What?!"

"Yeah, we’re dating and I love him so stop saying these things! You can’t take me off this, and we are going to do this together!"

Hank cleared his throat. "Bobby…" Bobby could perfectly picture him. Probably sitting in his lab with a white coat and his glasses on working on something, all blue and furry and worried for his friend’s sanity.

"So, can you tell me what I need to do tonight?"

"Plug in the phone you’re using to the central computer and I’ll do the rest."

"Okay. Thanks, Hank. And, er, about Brian and the rest of the Champions of Europe?"

"We’ll deal with them," Hank said. "I hope you know what you’re doing. Brian has always been a friend but…"

Captain entire family was made of mutants except himself, so Bobby was sure he would understand. But some things were out of his control, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had their hands everywhere, even in Europe.

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it." Bobby hung up and groaned. It took him a minute until he gathered himself and walked into the kitchen where Daken was currently feeding Raze. It was an odd image.

"How did it go?" Daken asked. Raze raised his arms, knocking over the food and spilling some of it on Daken. "You little rascal." Daken glared at Raze and wiped the food off his face with a tissue.

Bobby actually smiled despite how down he felt at the moment. "Bad."

"They’re not coming here, are they?"

"No. No, that’s fine. I got that covered," Bobby assured him and dropped the phone in front of Daken. "Bad because I kind… I kind of told them we’re dating." He said the last part an octave higher than his usual voice and also several notches quieter.

"What did you say?"

"You have super hearing or something like that, don’t pretend like you didn’t understand me!" Bobby said.

Daken rubbed his temples. "Why did you tell them we’re _dating_?"

"Because they kept on getting on my nerves asking me if I was mind washed or something! Is it so weird that I’m here? That I want to be here with you?! Maybe I like being here. Have they ever thought about that?"

Daken didn’t even say anything he was just staring at Bobby.

"Don’t look at me like that, I don’t mean it! It just slipped out, okay? No big deal. I’ll tell them later I didn’t mean it."

"If this gets around, I will kill you."

Oh, it probably would. He knew how fast gossip went around at the mansion, especially with tons of Teenage kids running around.

Bobby grinned. "I’d like to see you try."

* * *

They had an entire evening to pass the day and Bobby was bored.

He went over the plan they made enough times that he was sure this would go smoothly. Tenma has holed herself up in her office and told them to not bother her because inspiration struck and once it did, nobody was allowed to talk to her while she was drawing.

So Bobby got up and walked into the kitchen where Daken was standing at the stove, Raze on the table in nothing but diapers and that one Pikachu plushie in his hands that he still refused to let go of.

The past few days, Bobby had seen several different versions of Daken he never thought he’d ever see in his life. Daken with an apron, standing over the stove and stirring in a pot was another sight he’d never thought he’d see. Next to him on the counter was an old-fashioned radio from which some pop song came out to which Daken was humming. While the sound was a little bit broken, it didn’t destroy the rest of the image that was painted in front of him.

Daken turned around, showing the ridiculous front of the red apron which was just Spider-Ham holding barbeque tongs in each of its hands. It just was so out of place and looked ridiculous on Daken who Bobby mostly associated with expensive white suits that made him look way too good and inapproachable. He wanted to take a picture of this Daken, who suddenly looked way softer than Bobby thought he could ever be. He wanted to capture it, maybe send it to Johnny but he also didn’t want to show anyone this. A rare Daken moment only he was seeing and nobody else.

"What kind of apron is that?" Bobby asked. "If Spider-Ham ever saw this he’d kill you."

"Honestly, I’d love to fight him. Gonna punch that pig."

Bobby laughed. "What are you cooking?"

"Why? You want to help?"

Bobby shrugged. "I’m bored and we’re boyfriends now. Might as well play the role," he said. "You got another one of those ridiculous aprons?"

"She only has one," Daken replied. "Besides, we’re technically _married._ Not just boyfriends."

"I don’t see you proposing to me with a ring," Bobby said. He stepped closer to Daken right next to the stove.

"When this is all over, I’m getting you one," Daken said. "And if you really want to help me, go chop some leeks, they’re in the fridge."

"Okay, okay." While Bobby was a few seconds into chopping leeks, he stopped. "Do you use a knife? Or do you just use your claws?"

Daken made a disgusted face. "Who do you think I am?" He sounded appalled that Bobby even brought it up.

"Honestly, I don’t know. Laura and Logan would do it," Bobby defended himself. "I saw Laura actually use her claws to eat once."

"I have _bone_ claws," Daken said. "While they’re still sharp as hell, I don’t think it’s a good idea to use them. Besides, it’s disgusting and I need to teach my sister some manners."

Bobby shrugged. "I’d do it if I had claws. Do they clean themselves? Would I never have to wash forks ever again?"

"What is this?" Daken asked. "First you hate me and now you’re joking with me?"

Bobby didn’t expect Daken to ask him. "Maybe I’m sick of hating you," he said. "Honestly, we have maybe two days left if everything goes according to plan."

Daken blew on the wooden spoon and then raised it towards Bobby. "So, you want to make the best of it? Get all friendly with me?"

Bobby glanced at the spoon before he leaned in and tasted it. "Is good, where did you learn how to cook?"

"I’ve lived for so long and pick up several skills and languages and you think I don’t know how to cook?"

"Forget I asked," Bobby said. "And no, that’s not it. It’s… useless to fight, I guess. We’ll just go back to hating each other after it. Or not. I— I don’t think I really hate you anymore. You’re annoying and all but…"

Daken pressed his index finger against Bobby’s lips. "Stop talking, Snowflake."

For the short moment where Daken slowly lowered his hand again, Bobby thought this was going to be it. He couldn’t help it as his gaze dropped to Daken’s lips again. But Daken just turned to Raze and picked his brother from the table who seemed like he was dozing off any minute.

"I’m putting him in bed," Daken said, "keep watch on the stove."

"Okay," Bobby managed to say. Daken stopped at the door frame and turned to look at Bobby. _Really_ looked at him and for the first time, it seemed to Bobby like it wasn’t just him who was trying to figure out Daken. The look in Daken’s eyes made him feel like maybe Daken hadn’t figured him out as well, or that something was confusing about Bobby that set him off. Maybe he might just be projecting with that stupid brain of his, who knew. All he knew was that Daken left the kitchen and Bobby slumped over the counter.

There was just something nice about seeing Daken like this, so domestic in casual wear with a stupid apron, cooking and taking care of his brother. About the way he had hummed along to the songs from the radio and how casually and comfortable it had felt to just chop next to Daken and talk to him.

He had spent way too much time around Daken but as Bobby said, they’d soon go back to America and all these confusing feelings would resolve into thin air— as they should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as a captain britain stan i had to add that my man is a mutant ally


	9. 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So stuff happens

Tenma’s car was not flashy at all, just a simple black Volkswagen with a Radio that didn’t work so it was just silence between them. They left Raze with her though both Bobby and Daken were nervous about it. It was better than taking Raze with them and they didn’t have another choice. Besides, Tenma’s mutation was useful for her to stay undiscovered.

Bobby eyed Daken for a moment. He seemed tense but he couldn’t blame him, he was also on edge.

"This will go smoothly," Bobby told Daken. He wasn’t sure if he said it to remind Daken to not go crazy once they were inside and hurt the workers, or if he said it to reassure Daken, or himself. It was one of the three, or all at once.

"Don’t worry about it," Daken said.

Bobby rubbed his temples. He was used to their plans not going smoothly, something always went wrong when he was on missions with the X-Men. He doubted it would be any better with Daken on board. Bobby wasn’t used to these stealthy missions, he wasn’t the fucking X-Force.

"Do we need to go over the plan again?" Bobby asked.

"No," Daken replied.

"Remember. No killing. Or just in general hurting people you don’t need to."

Daken rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir. Taking all the fun out of it."

"Hey, I’m _not_ taking the fun out of it. Or anything. I’m the most fun person you can find, your definition of fun is just really fucked up."

"Isn’t that the best kind?"

Bobby huffed. "Okay, let’s go in."

They parked the car a bit further away from the factory site. It was already dark, the night sky hanging above them with no stars to be seen in the sky which made Bobby a little bit uneasy. They weren’t in the countryside but they were far away from the city.

He put up his hoodie and glanced over to Daken who didn’t pay any attention to him. His eyes were on the huge factory building in front of them with the word _Lammerding_ embedded in red with a red dot for the "i".

Things were easy. They sneaked to the back of the building, went through the emergency stairs that led them to the top. Once they arrived, Daken halted at the door.

"What?" Bobby asked.

"It’s asking for a code," Daken explained. They both probably thought about just throwing the door in, which they easily could but they didn’t want any attention on them.

"Step back." Bobby grasped the device on the wall with his hand, freezing it and destroying it. With a triumphant smile on his lips, he winked to Daken. To Bobby’s surprise, Daken smiled in return when Bobby opened the door for him.

"After you," he said and Daken stepped in.

Now the difficult part. Bobby spotted the security cameras he had memorized the entire afternoon and froze them all immediately as well.

"Meet you later, snowflake," Daken said and saluted before they separated their paths. Maybe not so smart but when you were only two people there’s only so much you can do. Daken was supposed to sneak into the security room and shut off the cameras and the guards while Bobby would work his way down to the central computer.

He had also promised Hank that they’d get a vial for him for research the vaccine. It was late so technically no one should be here anymore but this hidden part of the factory where they did all their research, was constantly looked over.

Bobby pressed his body against the wall as two security guards came from the other side. They spoke in German with each other, so Bobby had no idea if they were talking about the fact that two mutants were in the building. He held his breath, steadying his fists and ready to attack at any given time but luckily the two of them turned to another corner and their voices became quieter.

Bobby breathed out and looked over his shoulder. These guards were heavily protected from head to toe, even wearing a mask.

 _Shit,_ he thought. _Daken._ Daken, who wouldn’t be able to use his pheromones to make them fall for him but instead would have to take other measurements. Bobby closed his eyes for a second, just hoping that his ‚partner‘ wouldn’t be so mindless and moved on. It was weird calling Daken his partner in his head, but that was what they were right now, right?

For a moment he thought about the Ice Wizard, him from another future who came to visit him and warned him about Daken. He too had thought Daken was his partner. Bobby couldn’t help but feel weird knowing that another version of him, older and more mature as he hoped, fell for Daken. How could he? Sure, Daken was hot and all but there was nothing more than just simply physical attraction that Bobby had for him right now. That and dislike. Being in love was a completely different thing.

Bobby shook his head as if he could shake out his thoughts about it with that. He had to concentrate.

"Hey!" someone shouted and Bobby cursed.

Immediately, he reacted, turning into ice and freezing the man’s feet to the ground so he couldn’t move, slinging the rifle across the ground, scattering it a few feet away from them. Then he knocked the man out and dissolved the snow, dragging him away from the hallway and hiding him in one of the rooms. It looked like a broom closet. Bobby took care of the rifle as well, destroying it so the man couldn’t use it again once he woke up and threw it into the room as well, closing the door behind him.

His eyes scanned the floor for a second before he turned to the left. It was always different to learn the layout of a building via a blueprint when you were actually in the building and had to navigate your way through it.

He heard footsteps and Bobby quickly hid behind a wall again.

A hand went over Bobby’s mouth and before Bobby could fight back, the familiar deep voice of Daken came from behind him, just right above his ear.

"Don’t shout, it’s me," Daken whispered. He was even closer to him than last night when they fought on top of the rooftop. Bobby could feel Daken’s lips against his ear shell and a shiver was sent through his spine.

Daken slowly lowered his hand and Bobby turned around. The building was completely dark except for the neon green of the emergency exists lights that were now painting Daken’s face in neon green hues with dark shadows accentuating his high cheekbones and eyelashes. Bobby swallowed hard.

"Did you take care of it?"

"Even better." Daken smirked and pressed a card against Bobby’s lips. "I got the card to get us in."

"I could kiss you right now," Bobby blurted out and immediately regretted it, cursing himself.

"Save that for later." Daken looked over Bobby’s shoulder. "The coast is clear. There’s the door. Here." He put the card in Bobby’s hand, their fingers brushing against each other for a short second. "You’re getting in there, I’m taking a vial for your furry friend."

"My furry— okay." Bobby breathed out immediately once Daken was gone again. His heart was beating faster than it should and he blamed it on the adrenaline of breaking into the building. Not because of how close Daken had just been to him or how he could still feel a slight tingle in his hand where Daken had touched him.

The room to the central computer was in the far back but luckily, Bobby got in without any problems. He had tensed for a while when he slid over the card in the reader and the color didn’t change from red to green for a few seconds but as soon as it did, the tension wore off.

He sat behind the computer and plugged in the phone and called Hank.

"Hacker voice, I’m in," Bobby announced.

"Did you just say _hacker voice_?" Hank replied.

"Yeah?"

"Okay. We need at least five minutes."

" _Five_ minutes?!" Bobby groaned and looked at the time on the phone. "Fine. You better hope nothing happens in those five minutes."

The first minute, nothing happened. But of course, things wouldn’t go according to plan. Loud sirens came from outside and the building was suddenly painted in red light with a robotic female German voice repeating an announcement.

"Shit," Bobby cursed.

"What is happening?" Hank asked.

"No idea!"

"Just stall them! Four more minutes!"

Bobby groaned and got out. When he opened the door, a security guard just flew past him and to the other side. Bobby turned to see Daken standing there with his claws out.

"Daken! We said stealth! Do you not know what that is?"

"Believe me, snowflake, I know it better than you," Daken said.

"I need four more minutes!"

Daken brushed with the backside of his hand over his chin. "I’ll give you four more minutes."

"I don’t know if we have those!" Bobby shouted, pointing towards the masses of more guards running towards them. "Shit, is this legal?!"

"You know it isn’t!"

Bobby turned into ice. There were about seven of them, probably more to come. They aimed at Daken and Bobby with guns, saying something Bobby couldn’t understand.

"Damn, I really should get German lessons once all of this is over," Bobby said in mid of the fight.

"Want me to translate?" Daken shouted from the other side.

"Are they apologizing for shooting at me? Because if not, I don’t know if I want to know."

The seven of them went down and Bobby ran back into the room. "Hank? How much more?"

"We’re done!"

"Hell yeah!" Bobby shouted. "Did you hear that, Daken? We’re done!"

A thud came, followed by a loud growl, definitely by Daken. Bobby unplugged the phone and ran out to check on Daken who was hovering over one of the security guards who slumped to his feet. One of Daken’s claws was out, blood dripping from it. He turned to Bobby and there was a dangerous smile flashing on his face, even more blood dripping from his nose.

"Hey, snowflake." Daken wiped the blood away with the back of his palm.

"Is he—"

"No, he’s alive, it’s not even a deep wound. We need to go, we got more company."

Bobby stared at the hallway. There were too many people, tons of them. "Fuck," he cursed.

"Run!" Daken shouted and pushed Bobby.

Bobby grabbed Daken instead. He was still in his ice form, so he didn’t have to turn to move along with Daken on his ice slides down the other way.

"How did this happen?" Bobby cried. "We wanted to have this be a stealth mission!"

Daken laughed roughly behind him. "Isn’t this more fun?"

"I mean, yeah, without the blood. Next time, don’t stab anyone." They arrived at the rooftop from which they came through, Bobby just blasting the door open.

Someone shot at them and Daken jumped off Bobby’s slide. "Daken!" Bobby shouted.

"Just get out of here, snowflake, I’ll follow!"

"Are you kidding me? I’m not leaving you here!"

Daken extended his other remaining claws and jumped into the mass. "Get out of here! And get the car here!"

Bobby wasn’t sure what he should do. He didn’t want to leave Daken behind. Daken wasn’t his friend but he was his partner for this mission. And over all the years that he had been an X-Men now, about half of his life, he stuck by a rule. You don’t leave your partners behind unless absolutely necessary, no matter who the partner was. "No, I’m fighting with you!"

"Get the fucking car!" Daken shouted and threw something towards him. Bobby couldn’t react quick enough and was thrown off guard by the grenade. Where the fuck did he even get it from? He fell off the roof but quickly caught himself again.

Alright, so be it. If Daken wanted to fight against a horde, then let him. Bobby would get the fucking car. As quickly as he could, he flew towards it, got inside and stored the phone safely in the glove compartment. They had let the keys inside, so he didn’t need to fumble with them. He hurried, speeding from one to 160 kilometers an hour— Bobby had no idea how much that was in miles but it was all the car could do— driving towards the building and through the fences.

He had no idea where Daken was but when another loud thud came from the top of the car, Bobby shrieked. Daken looked down from the front and waved with his hand. "Drive!"

Someone shot through the passenger window, the glass shattering which made Bobby immediately turn into ice as to not get hit by any of the shards.

He immediately stepped on the gas and drove away. The sirens could still be heard in the background, as well as people shouting and more bullets. Bobby ignored all of that, also ignoring the fact that Daken was on top of the car. He drove as carelessly as he could to just get the two of them out of here. Even though he was just driving, his palms were sweaty against the wheel from the excitement, his heart was beating hard against his chest from the adrenaline running through his veins. He wanted to laugh and shout at the same time, laugh because it felt so _good,_ but also shout because what the fuck was Daken thinking?

At some point, Daken climbed through the passenger seat’s window since it was broken.

"See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?"

"Not so hard? What the _fuck_ were you thinking?"

"I’m thinking that…" Daken looked behind him. "We need to get rid of the car as soon as it’s safe and leave it at the side of the road and then get the fuck out of here."

"That’s not what I mean!"

"Why are you mad?" Daken asked.

"Where did you even get a hand grenade from?"

"Tenma."

"Ten— Okay. Okay, of course, this woman just has hand grenades lying around in her home."

"Please, I _taught_ her to handle a sword. I taught her about other things as well," Daken shot back.

"I can’t believe you!" Bobby’s voice was panicking.

"I think we got them off our backs. Let’s get out of here and park the car. Turn right!" Daken shouted but he didn’t even need to tell Bobby since he was just grabbing the wheel and yanking hard it to the right.

"Fuck! Get your hands away from my wheel! We’re gonna crash!"

"It’s not like we’d be hurt from it anyway! Why are you so angry?!"

Bobby had no idea. He had been in other situations like this plenty of times before. He wasn’t the type to be nervous at all times and easily panicked. Not when he lived like this almost all his life. He held his breath and sped up again, just driving into some remote exit and driving over the street lines, parking in the middle of nowhere.

"I don’t know," he admitted. "You just make me so angry."

Daken scoffed. "Yeah, you’re not exactly the best company to be around with either, snowflake."

"I don’t think you get it. I don’t know _what_ you’re doing with me but you win, okay? I just—" Bobby tried to find words to explain what he was thinking and feeling right now but he couldn’t. He had no idea what that weird feeling was anyway. He was angry and frustrated at Daken. Because of what happened and also because this was Daken, and because there was still the adrenaline rushing through his body, making everything so much more intense. And worst of all, he wanted nothing more than to just let go.

And so Bobby did. He just grabbed Daken’s shirt and pulled him into a kiss. It was way too sudden and hard that it was at first just him smashing his lips against Daken, who was caught off guard. Catching Daken off guard was something Bobby could now successfully write down in his achievements. Bobby almost came to his senses, if Daken would’ve hesitated a split second longer, he would’ve probably just pushed him away and blurted out an incoherent mess of words, making up excuses and saying how this was a mistake and he had no idea what came over him.

Which was true. It was a mistake and Bobby had no idea what came over him. But Daken reacted quickly and kissed him back just as hard. Bobby came to realize that he wasn’t the only one frustrated and angry, at least by the way Daken kissed him. Hungry, and angry. He pulled Bobby closer, cupping his face but not gentle at all. His fingers digging into Bobby’s blond hair, tugging on it, keep pulling him closer and closer.

A quiet groan escaped Bobby’s lips when Daken bit down hard and he moved closer. He climbed over and it was as uncomfortable as one would expect in Tenma’s car which wasn’t big or luxurious at all with some glass shards still lying on this side. He didn’t care at all right now though, he just wanted more of this, to drown in Daken.

Bobby pulled on the back of Daken’s hair when he managed to climb on Daken and seating himself on his lap. When they started, he had worn his long hair in a ponytail which had now come completely loose, he must’ve lost the tie somewhere. Daken hissed and looked up to meet Bobby’s eyes. For a second, they stopped, just staring into each other’s eyes.

This was the moment where they could’ve stopped. Bobby was looking into Daken’s eyes but he wasn’t trying to search for anything behind them. He had no idea what Daken was thinking but he didn’t care anyway. He just kissed him hard again, licking his way into Daken’s mouth.

Fuck this. Fuck Daken, fuck the people that followed them and the fact that they were just risking it all by throwing themselves at each other on the side of the road. Bobby needed this, he had wanted it so badly for so long and had denied it himself all the time.

The way Daken touched him, his hands moving under Bobby’s shirt, gripping into his muscles and flesh hard, was like no one has touched him before. None of his former lovers, especially not the male ones, have conveyed their lust like this. Daken moved his hips, jerking them upwards to meet Bobby’s crotch against his.

Both of them knew they didn’t have a lot of time but Bobby wished they had. As awful as all of this was right now, the circumstances, the location, the position he was in in this cramped car, the partner, he wanted this to last for way longer than they could.

He moved back to open his pants. He was half hard already and Bobby didn’t even dare to look in Daken’s eyes right now. Though Daken wasn’t having any of it, he grabbed Bobby’s face and jerked his head up to meet Daken’s eyes. A grin crossed his lips and Bobby hated it so much. He wanted to wash that stupid fucking grin that had made him feel weird for the past days they’ve been traveled together out of Daken’s face.

"Hey, snowflake."

"Don’t talk," Bobby hushed. He didn’t need to hear Daken’s low voice too, reminding him of what he was doing right now.

"Fine." Daken spit in his palm and moved Bobby closer. He had opened his pants as well and was also half hard. He moved his hand over his cock, stroking it slowly. Bobby held his breath.

"Next time," Daken said, "I’ll let you have a taste of it."

Bobby blushed. "Who said there’s going to be a next time?"

"Oh, there will be." Daken licked his lips and when he touched Bobby, Bobby had to hold back his voice. He took his lower lips between his teeth, biting down hard as he put his arms around Daken. He closed his eyes and just let it happen.

Who cared? They had to be fast now and he just let Daken touch him. And, fuck, was he good with his hands. It felt way too good to feel Daken touch him, move his hand around his and Bobby’s length as he held them together, and have him mark up his neck. Bobby should stop him from doing the latter but when he couldn’t hold back a moan when Daken was biting down on the skin between his neck and shoulder and tightening his grip at the same time, he knew there was no point anyway.

It didn’t take too long for Bobby to come, gasping against Daken’s mouth, their lips so close that Daken practically swallowed Bobby’s quiet moans. Daken followed afterward and Bobby always slumped towards, let himself fall against Daken’s shoulder until he realized who this was again. He moved back on his seat and cleared his throat.

"So. That was, er. Something," he said and tucked himself in again.

Daken hummed. "Yeah." For once, his voice didn’t sound controlled at all. It was raspy and uneven, as was his breathing right now. He searched in the glove compartment for tissues with which he cleaned up. Bobby looked away, not being able to look Daken in the eyes while the other male was putting his pants on correctly again.

"We need to go," Bobby said.

"Yes," Daken said and got out of the car. Bobby hesitated for a second too long and Daken looked in again. "What? Too good you can’t get up? That was nothing."

Bobby blushed. "I’m gonna freeze you up," he warned Daken.

"Been there, done that. Wasn’t really fond of it."

"Better get used to it," Bobby replied and climbed out of the car as well.


	10. 10

Blue and red hues danced on Daken’s face, reflecting the colors of the police sirens outside. He was looking out carefully through the blinds. Minutes passed or seconds, Bobby wasn’t sure. Daken turned around when the lights finally dimmed and shut the blinds close.

"Can you stop doing that?"

"Stop what?" Bobby asked.

Daken nudged Bobby’s legs with his. Bobby hadn’t even noticed how he had been bouncing it up and down the past few minutes. He bit back an apology because he didn’t see the point of apologizing. He was nervous. Of course, he was. They got away and managed to hide but the police were way too close. They caught them just as they were about to run away all because they— Because they spent way too much time in that damn car instead of running away the second they arrived.

Regardless, they followed them to this small town and broke into a home where they were hiding. The list of crimes Bobby had committed with Daken just kept on growing. He was just glad the house they broke in was empty, he was sure Daken probably would’ve just tied up whoever lived here and covered their mouth with tape.

"We’re staying here," Daken decided. He walked through the room, looking around.

"Uh, the hell we are."

Daken opened the drawers. "It’s that, or we go out and I knock some sense into them and I’m sure you don’t like _my_ way."

Bobby fumbled with the hem of his shirt. "What about the owners?"

"Male. Lives alone. He hasn’t been here for a while though. A week? Must be on vacation," Daken said.

Bobby looked around to see if there were any traces of who the owner might be. The place was small but still way too big for just one person to live in it. The guy must have a lot of money. The kitchen in which they were in right now was connected to the living room and it was pretty clean.

"The smell," Daken explained.

"Oh." He glanced at the clock above the stove, red neon digits in the darkness. Neither of them had turned off the light, they didn’t dare to. It was about midnight and Bobby let his shoulders fall. He was exhausted but not the kind of exhaustion that made you fall asleep. He was sure he couldn’t sleep tonight. People often thought he was mindless but he knew he’d probably toss and turn this night thinking about what just happened.

"Go shower first."

"We’re going to use this guy’s shower?"

Daken shrugged. "We already broke in. Besides, we did get pretty dirty." It was so dark that Bobby barely caught the smug smile on Daken’s face. Bobby tensed and got up from the seat.

* * *

So he made out with Daken. After spending almost every single hour of his day for the past week with him in which Bobby had been so _good_ at restraining himself and not falling into Daken’s trap, he did it. He couldn’t even blame it on Daken’s pheromone powers. It was all on him. He did that.

He had been the one who got angry at Daken for no god damn reason and just grabbed him and kissed him. He had been the one who had then continued to climb off his seat and onto Daken’s lap. Daken hadn’t done anything except push the right buttons to finally make Bobby snap. He could’ve stopped at any time. He could’ve come to his senses but he didn’t. And the thing was that Bobby didn’t even regret it.

He looked up when Daken reentered the living room, his hair still wet as he was drying it up with a towel. He was wearing new clean clothes like Bobby was. The owner was taller than both of them and Bobby had to roll up the pants. It was weird wearing a stranger’s clothes.

"Not going to sleep?" Daken asked and climbed over the couch and next to Bobby.

He didn’t regret it. That was the worst of all. He had wanted that so badly for a while now. Daken was gorgeous, and Bobby wasn’t blind. He had noticed it before all of this started already. He had known that Logan’s son was handsome. He had seen it up close when they danced for the first time. The way Daken carried himself was just also incredibly attractive and even after all the things that they both went through, Bobby couldn’t deny it. He was attracted to Daken.

That was one thing. The other thing was that Bobby had needed Daken at that time. He had been frustrated and angry and everything kind of just spilled over. Daken had been right there. The source of all his problems. He would do it again and the realization of this was the worst.

"I’m not tired," Bobby said. He had grabbed one of the thick blankets that were on the couch and had wrapped it around himself. He was exhausted but not tired. He had already showered and his head was still spinning of what happened tonight. Of the break-in, the fight, the escape, and whatever they had. The image of Daken right in front of him was still there, under him, the feeling of Daken’s hands and hot breath against his skin was so vivid, Bobby just couldn’t sleep.

Daken grabbed the other blanket and threw it around himself. He reached for the TV remote and turned it on.

"What are you doing?"

"I can’t sleep either," he said. He just zipped between channels and stayed on one. Bobby had no idea what they were talking about, it was just a slice of bread in front of a white screen with very short arms.

"What is this?"

"No idea."

Bobby sighed and leaned back against the couch. He glanced over to Daken who didn’t seem much interested in what was on the screen. "Did you call Tenma?"

"Yes," Daken confirmed. "Raze is well if that’s what you’re worried about."

"He’s kind of the most searched baby right now," Bobby said. "And we’re sitting here watching some kid’s show about a talking slice of bread."

Daken turned to him. "Go to bed. I need you fully energized, we’re leaving this country tomorrow."

"I can’t sleep," Bobby repeated. "And maybe I do like this slice of bread."

"You literally don’t understand what it’s saying."

"Bet it’s boring. I know I can do better." Bobby licked his lips and looked at the screen. "Hi, my name’s Brad."

"You did not just name the bread _Brad._ "

"I did. You’re not even telling me its real name, so his name is Brad now. Anyway." Bobby cleared his throat. "My name is Brad and I wish I wasn’t stuck in this white boring room but instead was in the Academy where I’m safe and have peace and am not running around with a maniac with a mohawk."

Daken chuckled. "The Academy? _Safe_ and _peace_?"

"Okay, I _might_ have exaggerated a little bit," Bobby defended himself. "It’s a hyperbola. It’s a comedic device."

"Someone paid attention to class."

Bobby shrugged. "Hey, the Academy sucked but I _did_ learn some things. Apart from like, Fighting Villains 101. Or How to Fly a Ship. Or, This is Why Magneto Was Wrong."

Daken was leaning against the armrest and looking up to Bobby from there. "How much of that actually stuck?"

"Please, I’m a teacher," Bobby said, waving his hand. "At least in theory. I taught Algebra. I did go to college, you know. I have a degree. Don’t make fun of it, not many X-Men can say that about themselves. Most of us don’t have time to do that. How many do you have?"

"You do know I’ve lived way longer than you right?" Daken asked and casually slung his legs over Bobby’s lap. Bobby was so close to just push them away but he was too exhausted to fight with him right now.

"Fine. You’ve lived so long you probably were on the first class of Havard, Mr. Know It All."

Daken opened his mouth and frowned. "I’m not that old."

Bobby grinned. "So how many?"

"Zero. Do I look like I would get a degree? What a waste of time."

"Please. I just know you’re like seventy. You’re one of those old people complaining about young people." Daken glared at him and it amused Bobby even more. "Hey, old man." He nudged Daken’s side with his elbow.

"Don’t tease me, snowflake."

"Ever heard about Netflix? I’m sure I can understand that. Or are you too old?"

Daken grabbed the remote again and threw it towards Bobby. He caught it quickly but was surprised by the force of it against his palm. "Of course I do."

"I’m not like other immortals. I am a cool immortal," Bobby teased. "Wait, would you consider yourself immortal? I mean, you died. Twice." He tapped with the remote against his chin. "Wanna make it thrice?"

Daken breathed out slowly. "Snowflake, just put on a god damn movie."

"Sure you don’t want to listen to more of me doing a voice over for Brad?"

Daken sat up, taking his legs off of Bobby’s lap. Bobby hated how he was a bit disappointed by feeling the weight of them taken. "You always talk so much after you hook up with someone?"

Bobby blushed. It was the first time either of them had brought it up. "I always talk a lot."

"No, I think…" Daken’s gaze dropped to Bobby’s lips. Bobby held his breath, he wanted to look away but he didn’t want Daken to get the upper hand. So he held his eyes set on the other male. "I think you always talk so much to gloss over what you’re really feeling. You talk and joke to cover up your true self."

Bobby blinked. He would’ve said that Daken was wrong, that despite everything he didn’t know a single thing about him. But that wasn’t quite true. "You do the same," he shot back instead. He was ready for Daken to go on the defensive, to ridicule him and push him away.

"Maybe we’re not so different, you and I."

Bobby made a face. "That was Villain 101 Talk," he pointed out.

Daken shrugged. "Please, don’t lump me in with those."

"Okay, maybe you’re right," Bobby said. "I’m… I mean what else am I supposed to do? I can’t sleep and you won’t leave me alone and I’m probably _this_ close to freaking out." He held up his hand, his index finger and thumb almost touching. "I hooked up with _you."_

"You insult me, snowflake. Don’t say you didn’t enjoy it."

Bobby blushed. "Literally not the point. I could freak out or just lie down and try to sleep which I can’t because—" The words were stuck at the back of his throat. Daken raised one of his eyebrows.

"You can’t stop thinking about it?" He was so smug and Bobby cursed himself. "About the way I kissed you? Touched you? You want to feel it again, don’t you? And you’re scared of how much you crave it. You’ve been like this since Day One, and now that you got a taste…"

He was way too close to Bobby now. He had no idea how Daken came so close to him. Bobby flinched and pushed him away.

"You can smell it," he said. "I can’t even deny it. Doesn’t mean I don’t think it was stupid as hell." Daken pulled back and Bobby sighed. "I mean, the good thing is that neither of really cares, right?"

"What do you mean?"

Bobby leaned back and looked up to the ceiling. "About us hiding behind our words. I don’t want to know you. And you don’t want to know about me. It works. Sometimes just thinking someone is evil for the sake of being evil is better than finding out about their tragic backstory. Don’t deny you don’t have one." He turned away from the ceiling and back to Daken. "This is over soon anyway. You and me, I mean. We’re going back to the States tomorrow, right?

"Whatever these past days were… it’s going to be over. That between us."

"There’s no 'us'."

"You know what I mean."

Silence swept over them and Bobby was about to change the channel and find out whether or not this man had Netflix. Their last night and they were going to spend it watching Netflix until he fell asleep next to each other. And that was way more intimate than what they did in the car. There was a split second where he thought about the three options.

1\. Go to sleep and just get away from him.

2\. Sleep with him. Sure, it was a bad idea but in a way less intimate than this. Having sex with Daken was probably easier than

3\. Staying here next to him in the darkness, comfortably close to each other that their arms were touching curled in blankets, watching a movie while teasing each other like they were friends.

Daken must’ve noticed how Bobby stopped mid-way. "What is it?"

Bobby stared at the remote, then at the TV where that stupid slice of bread was still dancing in front of a white screen, and then at Daken. He switched to the house owner’s Netflix account. He was the sole owner as just one icon popped up and soon several familiar movies and TV shows appeared on the screen.

Daken suddenly got up and there was a tinge of disappointment in Bobby’s chest.

"You going to sleep?"

"No. I need a drink and food." He left and walked to the kitchen as Bobby tried hard to concentrate on the TV and not turn his head to Daken who was rummaging the kitchen again like this was his own home.

When he returned, Daken had two wine glasses as well as a bottle in his hands.

"No food?" Bobby asked.

"He didn’t have anything except for crackers and I’m not _that_ hungry that I’m eating crackers."

Bobby had by now decided to choose a movie. "What about the wine?"

"It’s cheap." Daken flopped on the couch again and held it up. "Under normal circumstances, I’d never touch it."

Bobby snorted and took it out of his hands, opening the bottle. "We get it. You’re rich and old. You also sleep with young pretty things, so you’re kind of a Sugar Daddy."

"Did you just refer to yourself as 'young' and 'pretty'? You’re, what, thirty?"

Bobby poured the red wine in both glasses. "Twenty-eight," he grumbled.

"And the last time I checked we haven’t slept with each other."

"Yeah, well, not yet," Bobby blurted out, regretting the words as soon as they came out. Daken’s eyebrows went up again and Bobby cursed himself. Idiot. "Just ignore what I said. Don’t say a word and watch the movie."

Daken chuckled and raised his glass. Bobby hesitated for a short second before clinking his against Daken’s. "Here’s to our divorce."

"Divorce? Right, the married part." Bobby took a chug. "Shit. I forgot how they all think we’re dating." He buried his face in his palms. He could only imagine what the others were thinking. It wasn’t the most unusual relationship among X-Men but it was still something worth talking about.

"If words travel fast… Hey, who do you think will the Torch give the shovel talk to?" The thought of Johnny giving Bobby the shovel talk about Daken felt stupid.

"You think anyone would give you a shovel talk for dating me?"

Bobby pursed his lips. "You’re right. I couldn’t imagine you dating anyone _ever_ anyway. Have you ever even loved someone anyway?"

"Have you?"

Bobby’s mouth went dry. "Yes, just not in that sense."

"That didn’t answer the question."

Bobby sighed and shook his head. "No." He had finished the glass, so he poured in more wine. "I never dared to. And the one time I thought I could maybe one day…" His voice trailed off.

"I ruined it for you?" Daken finished the sentence.

"Yeah."

"You’re not angry. Usually, whenever you bring him up, you are."

"I’m tired," Bobby said and slumped against the back of the couch. "I don’t want to argue tonight. I just want to finish the bottle of wine and watch Boss Baby and fall asleep. It wasn’t supposed to be anyway. If it hadn’t been for you, it would’ve been someone else. That’s what comes with dating an X-Men. I guess it’s why people like us stick together and date each other."

Daken gave him a weird look. Probably because he didn’t expect Bobby to open up but neither did he. "I don’t blame him. Judah, I mean. You were an asshole, and he knew that you would not be the last. No idea how other people date civilians. No idea how Northstar does. Then again, you didn’t come for his husband."

Bobby even managed a smile which Daken returned.

"Should I try?"

"Don’t," Bobby warned him. "Jean-Paul isn’t as nice as I am."

"Nice? You’re nice?"

"Duh. I’m the nice one. Fun, nice, Bobby."

"You quite literally _impaled_ me."

Bobby groaned. "Will you ever let that down?"

"You aren’t either."

Bobby chugged the rest of his second glass. He was getting more drowsy with each minute that passed. "Fine, I’m not bringing it up anymore."

"I have by the way," Daken said.

"What?"

"There had been someone once. A long time ago," Daken continued.

Bobby blinked. He shouldn’t be so surprised, Daken had lived for a long time. He would’ve eventually found one person, right? It was still Daken though. "Were they also an evil maniac?"

"You see me as an evil maniac?" Daken grinned, flashing his teeth.

Bobby thought about it for a while. "No," he decided then in the end, "I don’t. What happened?"

Daken turned away. "He died."

"Did you kill him?"

He didn’t even seem offended by the question. "No. I _spared_ him. Someone else did. I took care of them."

Of course, he did. He wanted to ask Daken why he decided to tell him. Instead, Bobby said, "thank you."

"What for?"

"Telling me."

* * *

Bobby was the first one to fall asleep and the last one to wake up.

He was glad. He was sure he had fallen asleep against Daken’s shoulder and he wasn’t exactly keen on waking up on Daken either. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. The place in daylight was almost entirely white. Whoever lived her liked it clean and proper.

"You’re finally up."

Bobby turned to see Daken stand at the door, his hair already properly fixed. "How are we getting back? We can’t steal another car."

"Oh, we can. It’s not that far away, about two hours."

Great, another crime. "Can’t we just hitchhike or something? Is there a train?"

"In case you have forgotten, we’re all over the news," Daken said. "And you’re the one who wants to get out of this with minimum damage."

Bobby groaned and threw the blanket off his body. "Fine. Fine!" He jumped up. "Let me get ready first."

So this was the start of their last day. Or so he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know it's been a while but ! we're here.  
> also wow HOXPOX SPOILERS
> 
> can u believe daken is back. god bless.
> 
> btw the bread is [bernd das brot](https://cdn.kika.de/bernd-friends/sendungen/bilder/bild178646-resimage_v-tsmall169_w-512.jpg?version=55784) . a german icon . i hate him


	11. 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg its been like an entire month

There was something wrong. Bobby could see it by the way Daken tensed when they came closer.

"What is it?“ Bobby asked.

Daken’s jaw clenched but he didn’t reply. "Stay in the car.“

Bobby blinked. "You’re kidding me, right? What is it?“

"I told you to stay in the car.“ Daken extended his claws and Bobby held him back.

"Why? You know I can take care of myself, whatever there is. I’m not leaving you,“ Bobby said. It sounded weird to say it but that was what they were now. They were a team. He wouldn’t leave Daken behind again.

"I don’t care whether or not you can take care of yourself. I don’t want you to _stop_ me,“ Daken hissed and jumped out of the car. Bobby immediately understood. It wasn’t like yesterday when they had to escape. Daken wasn’t sacrificing himself to distract the guards so Bobby could get to the car. He didn’t send Bobby away because they were a team, he sent him away because he didn’t want them to be one anymore.

Of course, Bobby didn’t just let Daken run off alone. Now more than never he had to go after him. He turned to ice and slid towards Tenma’s apartment. He arrived earlier than Daken, just crashing through the window. Daken arrived just a few seconds later. Bobby wished he hadn’t.

Daken’s claws were still out as his eyes dropped to the corpse on the floor. Bobby could barely stand to look at her, the breakfast fighting to come up again but Bobby suppressed the urge. She didn’t deserve this. She did nothing wrong and she got killed because of them because they left her in danger. They had thought that because of her powers and the fact that she had been able to hide for so many years already, they’d never find her.

And it’s only been a day.

Just a day.

"Raze,“ Bobby choked out.

"He’s not here,“ Daken said with a tight voice and dropped to his knees.

"How do you know? I— what if they’re still here?“ Bobby looked around panicked. "We need to get them.“

Daken’s eyes were cold and his expression unreadable. Bobby wasn’t sure what was going through his head right now. Was he sad? Blaming himself? Or was there just anger and rage? He had trusted her, Bobby knew it. There weren’t many people Daken was friendly with— at least as far as he knew. And she was dead now.

"They’re long gone. I can smell it, she’s been dead for at least nine hours,“ Daken said and sat back. He pulled his knees up and pulled his claws in. He was now clenching his fists. He’d do something stupid, Bobby realized.

Nine hours. She died when they were cuddling next to each other on the couch watching some movie on Netflix and drinking cheap wine while Tenma had fought for her life. And failed. Guilt washed over Bobby. But that wasn’t what he had to focus on. Right now he had to focus on Daken.

He had known Tenma for years. And this wasn’t just someone randomly killing someone close to him. It was because of _them_ because they left her with Raze. And the people that came for Daken, there was no doubt that they were the people of the man he had talked about before. Romulus.

"Daken,“ Bobby said and walked over to him. "We need to get out of here.“ He couldn’t leave Daken here with Tenma.

Daken didn’t even react.

"They saw us… me. I just drove right through that window in my ice form. The police will come and they’ll…“ His eyes dropped to Tenma. He hoped at least they wouldn’t think they did it. He was already a fugitive for kidnapping a child and breaking into a facility, he couldn’t be a suspect for murder as well.

"Let them come,“ Daken said.

"No. No, Daken—" Bobby dropped next to him.

The man in question finally looked up and met Bobby’s eyes. "I don’t care anymore.“

"We’ll get him back. I promise,“ Bobby said. "We’re gonna get your brother back.“

"They’ll pay for this.“

"I know. Yes, they will! I’m not stopping you, just be rational,“ Bobby said. Daken would do something stupid, he knew it and he couldn’t even blame him. He wanted to go after those people himself and he didn’t even know them, and he had barely known Tenma. He wouldn’t deny him this but he wouldn’t sit here and watch him go berserk. That wasn’t what Bobby would do.

"You should go back,“ Daken said.

"What?“

"To America, to the X-Men,“ he explained. "Nothing is holding us together here anymore anyway.“

Bobby glared. "Shut up, we need to get out of here first!“ He got up and pulled Daken with him. The other male got off his feet and shrugged Bobby off. Daken grabbed him again. He didn’t have time for this right now, right now they had to get _out._ Daken didn’t seem to struggle at least when Bobby turned to ice again and drove them out of the window.

* * *

Bobby wasn’t sure if anyone was still able to follow them. He didn’t want to get arrested now. Sure, they wouldn’t be able to arrest him most likely but he was afraid of what Daken might do in his state. He glanced over to Daken after he dropped them off somewhere safe.

"I meant it, snowflake,“ Daken said, "our journey ends here. Go back to the X-Men.“

"No,“ Bobby said.

"Is it because of Raze? I’ll get him back,“ Daken said. His voice was bitter, the words coming out forced.

"No,“ Bobby repeated. "I’m going with you. I don’t care. I told you I won’t stop you.“ Not really, at least. He wouldn’t just sit back to watch Daken murder everyone in his way.

"Sure you won’t,“ Daken said. "I don’t know what you thought the last week was but do I need to remind you that we’re not friends? If you’re in my way, I’ll fight you too.“

Bobby took a deep breath. "I know. Do you think I didn’t go in this knowing the kind of person you are? I know who you are and what you are. And you can _try_ to fight me, we’d both know I’d win.“

Daken’s eyes narrowed.

"I’m not letting you go alone,“ Bobby repeated. "And Raze… I care for him. I can’t just go back to the X-Men and sit back! Even if I’d send someone else… I couldn’t do it. We started this together and we’ll end this together. I don’t want anything to happen to Raze, remember? It’s why I even followed you here. This time it’s just to save him from someone else, not you.“

Daken stared at him and Bobby again wished Daken was easy to read. He always thought he was. What was there to even say about Daken? A handsome murderer with daddy issues who thought highly of himself? Except that wasn’t what he was and Bobby had learned in the past days that there was way more to Daken than he thought there’d be.

There always were to humans. No one was simply just _something_. You just decide if you’re willing to see that other side of them. And Bobby hadn’t been, god, he had fought so hard against it. But here he was, telling Daken that they’d end this together and that he’d follow him.

"I don’t want you to follow me.“

"Yeah, well. I will though,“ Bobby said simply. "I want to get them too, Daken.“

Daken turned his gaze away. He was probably already thinking about how he could shrug Bobby off. A plan to sneak away from him and go after Romulus himself.

"I know what you’re thinking.“

"No, you’re not,“ Daken replied.

"Okay, I don’t. But you can’t shrug me off. If you are, I’ll just… I’ll come back eventually, you know? I’m the only other person who knows that Raze is his son,“ Bobby reminded him. "Remember when I followed you because I was scared of what you might do to him?“

"You still should be.“

Yes, most likely. "I know you’re not really a great parental figure or something,“ Bobby said though the images of Daken carrying Raze and feeding him flashed through his mind. "And you’re evil or whatever, that’s your thing. But I know you only took Raze because you didn’t want them to get him. You didn’t want him to do to Raze what he did to you, am I right?“

"You know nothing!“ Daken shouted and attacked him. Bobby reacted quickly, turning to ice within a fraction of a second and stopped him.

"I’m not going to ask!“ he shouted. "What he did. You said it, we’re not friends. I didn’t forget that. I just want to be…“ Bobby didn’t even know what he wanted to be.

And that’s when he realized he cared for Daken. It wasn’t just that he wanted to stop him or that he found him unfairly attractive which frustrated him. No, he actually cared for him. He didn’t want him to go down this path alone. He didn’t want Daken to beat himself up for this but Bobby wasn’t so sure if he did. Was he like this because he was guilty and in grief or because he was just _angry_? Was it both? Bobby wasn’t sure and at the end of the day, it wouldn’t have mattered to him anyway.

He had some attachment to Daken now and as much as he disliked it, he couldn’t deny it.

"What, snowflake?“ Daken hissed at him.

"Partners,“ Bobby said. "That’s what we are right?“

"We’re nothing.“ A short pause. "Fine.“

"Fine?“

"If you stand in my way though—"

Bobby pressed his lips together. He probably would and both of them knew it. "I won’t let you kill innocent people at least,“ he said. "And if you turn… all grey again because of the Death Seed. I’ll be there.“

Saying these words was harder than he expected. Not that he ever expected to make promises to Daken like these.

"You still have it, right?“ Bobby asked, his voice quieter than before. He wasn’t even sure why he spoke so quietly. There was just something spooky about the Death Seed. He had seen it tear people up, starting with his friend Warren.

"Yes,“ Daken replied. "What will you do? Just kiss me again?“

Bobby cleared his throat. "No, I’m sure I can do the same thing without kissing. I wasn’t thinking straight back then but you can’t blame me. You did attack the school.“

"Yeah, you weren’t thinking straight, all right.“ Daken grinned. It wasn’t sincere but Bobby thought it was better than nothing. He licked his lips.

"So, what are the plans?“ he asked. "Where do you think they are?“

"They want to lure me out,“ Daken said. "I know he wants me to come and get Raze myself.“

"You will,“ Bobby just concluded. He thought about saying something cheesy that he won’t be alone in this but he didn’t. "Do you think they’re still in Germany?“

Daken shook his head.

Bobby stared at his feet. "Do you think he’ll harm Raze?“

"As a child? No. He has bigger plans for him.“ Daken clenched his fist. Bobby could see that it took everything in him to not burst.

As much as he hated the situation, at least that gave him some sort of relief. His shoulders sank. "Did Tenma have any family?“ he asked carefully.

"No,“ he said. Bobby wasn’t sure if that was better or worse.

"When all of this is over,“ Bobby said, "let’s go to her funeral.“

Daken seemed surprised at this. "You’d want to fly to Germany again with me for that?“

Bobby nodded. "I didn’t know her but she helped us,“ he said. As an X-Men, he had many people die around him. Good people that tried to help them. You should never stop caring about casualties.

"I don’t know if I’d want to hang around you for so long, snowflake,“ Daken said. "We’ve kind of been sitting on each other for too long already.“

Bobby didn’t think it was that bad but he was used to this kind of thing. He wasn’t sure how used to this Daken was.

* * *

"We should tell Laura,“ Bobby decided. They were on their flight back to the states. Daken was convinced they brought Raze back there and Bobby didn’t know what other clues they had so he just followed him.

Daken looked at him. "I said no.“

"I didn’t say _Logan._ Just Laura,“ Bobby said.

Daken looked out of the window of the plane. Another private jet he had managed to secure for them. "Tell me, why would we need to tell her?“

Bobby drew a circle with his finger on his thighs. "I… we need help. And Laura is your sister. You trust her and I don’t think going through this alone is a good idea. Besides, this is also her brother. We won’t have to tell _Logan_.“

Daken shook his head. "Not Laura. I don’t want her to see.“

Bobby wasn’t sure what he didn’t want her to see. He was sure Laura has seen worse things. She’s been through hell and back and was stronger than any of them. But he understood.

"Besides, aren’t you enough? You always boast about your new status.“

"No, I don’t!“ Bobby said. "Listen, it’s a big deal. But I don’t boast about it.“

Daken raised one of his eyebrows and Bobby rolled his eyes.

"We’d need reinforcement. Johnny?“ Somehow suggesting their mutual friend made Bobby uneasy. But Johnny would be good, he was also Bobby’s friend and he trusted the hothead. He was a good person and somehow had managed to be one of the few people Daken cared for. Besides, he was sure Johnny would be able to handle him better than Bobby could. He still wasn’t sure how their relationship was but they were at least _friends._ Daken and Bobby were nothing but partners.

Bobby might care for Daken but he doubted the feeling was mutual. And if anything were to happen, he was sure Johnny could calm Daken down. He didn’t like the thought that Johnny would be able to do it but he wouldn’t, so Bobby quickly pushed the thoughts off his mind.

"Jimmy,“ Daken said.

"What?“

"That Hudson kid,“ Daken repeated.

Bobby pictured the blonde Wolverine. "Why him?“

"If you’re so desperate to not be alone with me anymore, him. Raze is also technically his brother and I don’t care about him.“

Bobby wanted to laugh at the last statement. He wasn’t like Laura and Gabby, the sisters Daken cared for, or Logan, the father he hated. He was just _Jimmy._ Bobby wasn’t sure if Daken felt more distanced to him than the rest because he was from another universe.

"Okay,“ he agreed. "Let’s get to him. He has a symbiote the last time I checked. You think he can keep a secret?“

Daken laughed. "Do you know who his mother is?“

Bobby blinked. "No?“

"See? He can keep a secret.“

Bobby furrowed his brows. "Wait, who is his mother? Is it someone I know?“

"I can keep secrets too,“ Daken said in a low voice. His gaze was too intense and Bobby looked away quickly.

"What about us?“ Bobby asked and only realized how that sounded when the words already escaped his lips. "I mean, they do think we’re dating.“

"Let them keep thinking it,“ Daken said. "Will ask fewer questions. And nobody would want to third-wheel us.“

Bobby wasn’t so sure about that part. X-Men were known for being annoying and having couples in their teams constantly anyway. "So, the plan is to get Jimmy, take down Romulus and get Raze back,“ Bobby listed. "And then what? We’ll never tell Logan and Raven that it’s… their son?“

"She gave him away,“ Daken said. "As for Logan, I don’t intend to tell him. He has enough children running around he can barely keep track of anyway.“

Bobby would’ve denied it but he decided to just keep shut. "You’re not going to raise that kid yourself, are you?“

"What, you don’t want to play happy married family with me and my baby brother anymore?“ Daken asked.

Bobby made a face. "I’m nowhere near capable or ready to raise a child. Especially not with you.“ He ran his hand through his hair and laughed at the absurd image of them being married with a child. No, he hasn’t fallen that hard yet or ever will.

He did admit to caring for Daken and yes, spending time with him wasn’t bad. But he wasn’t sure how much of this will last once all of this was over. Maybe the promise of going to Germany together again for Tenma was the last thing they’d have. But Bobby knew he wouldn’t just go back to where they used to be.

He decided it wasn’t a bad thing. Not entirely, at least.


	12. 12

Bobby lost count on how many days he had spent with Daken now. Not like he was actively counting. At first, he had just wished for all of this to be over with, to get back to the rest of the X-Men and get away from Daken. He didn’t want to spend so much time with the other male, not more than necessary, preferably no time at all.

Something along the way changed. Sure, he didn’t like spending so much time with Daken either. It made him uneasy to sit around him 24/7, but that was how all people were when you were stuck with the same person for a long period. Also, he wasn’t too fond of the recent changes in his feelings towards Daken. He couldn’t… _only_ hate him. Part of him still did. But he couldn’t deny anymore that he cared for him and he did actually like spending time with him sometimes.

Bobby wished it didn’t. Bobby wished he hated it whenever he caught himself relaxing around Daken and feeling comfortable. But he didn’t. He didn’t hate it anymore. He knew it should bother him, that he should put more distance between them, but neither happened.

Daken was on edge the whole flight and Bobby didn’t know what to do. He realized that despite all this, they weren’t close. They weren’t friends or anything else. No matter how they joked around each other, how close they were, or how Daken touched him that night when Bobby had shaken off all reason and just kissed him— they weren’t friends. They were partners because they needed to be and that was it. Bobby wasn’t sure if he wanted to be Daken’s friend. It sounded so absurd. His _friend._

What was more absurd, however, was where Jimmy lived.

"On a farm?" Bobby asked, appalled. "He lives on a farm?"

"It’s an abandoned farm," Daken said and shrugged, displeasure drawn on his face. "I know, we have nothing in common."

Bobby couldn’t imagine Daken to live on a farm. He was the kind of guy who you could only imagine in expensive lofts twenty floors above with the perfect sight of the city. But he had seen him in so many different places now so that wasn’t exactly true either.

"How do you even know?" Bobby asked and looked around. It wasn’t that weird now that he took in the entire scenery. It was remote, and there probably wasn’t even another neighbor within a mile. "Where he lives, I mean. You weren’t exactly close the last time you met."

Daken turned and raised his eyebrows. "The last time?"

Bobby waved his hand. "You know, I was there too. When you tried to kill him. Not _me_ me, but my younger me. Baby Bobby."

"Right." Daken nodded. "You got all his memories?"

"Yeah," Bobby replied. "When they disappeared, I mean, when we went back to our time they all came back to me. The missing ones." He went quiet for a while. It had been tough to remember it again. To remember how his younger self had felt to be put back in his time again and back in the closet for over ten more years.

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, back to the topic of Jimmy. How do you know he lives here?"

"You remember why I wanted to kill him? He had a symbiote. I would’ve done so if your redhead wouldn’t have stopped me."

"Jean? Yeah, she…" Bobby laughed. "I think she had a thing with Jimmy. Kind of weird considering her and Logan—"

Daken made a face. "Let’s not talk about that," he said.

Bobby agreed. There have been weirder relationships among the X-Men. "So, you kept an eye on him?"

"You could say that."

"And you didn’t attack him? And kill him?"

Daken froze. Bobby smiled. "I think it’s a good thing," he said. "That you didn’t. I mean maybe he won’t immediately attack us when he meets us! Oh, who knows maybe you two can be brothers and we can—"

He couldn’t even end the sentence but Bobby should’ve seen it coming. It was tiring but in their world, everyone lived by the motto to attack first and talk later. Jimmy threw himself against Daken. He jumped towards him, his symbiote taking over his entire body in just a fraction of a second. Jimmy’s body grew in size, growing broader and bigger than Daken, a loud growl coming from the depth of his chess, followed by a hiss and the snap of his long tongue.

Daken was thrown on the ground, rolling back while Jimmy attacked him. Bobby reacted quickly, turning his body as well into ice. He threw Jimmy off of Daken who immediately cursed and let his claws out. Jimmy had always been a threat, he was the son of Logan after all, but with the claws _and_ the symbiote, he was even stronger.

"Jimmy, calm down!" Bobby shouted.

"What a great welcome, baby brother," Daken snarled, teasing the blonde. Jimmy hissed and slid out of Bobby’s grip, going straight for Daken again. Of course, Daken being Daken jumped towards him. Jimmy cried out when Daken’s claws went through his shoulders. Jimmy grabbed Daken, no, it was more like the symbiote extended itself in black tentacles, throwing him off the ground.

This was exhausting to watch. "Stop!" Bobby screamed and extended his arms. A wall of ice separated the two brothers. "Jimmy, we’re not here to fight you!"

"He hurt us!" Jimmy shouted. The voice wasn’t coming from him.

"Yeah, Daken, what the fuck?" Bobby asked, turning to his companion.

Daken wiped his mouth with the back of his palm. "He attacked me, what else was I going to do?"

"We’re here asking him for _help_ , not stab him!"

"Help?" Jimmy asked. The symbiote left him reluctantly. He winced when he noticed the pain coming from his shoulder where Daken stabbed him. "You want my help and _stab_ me?"

Daken shrugged and Bobby put down the wall, turning his skin back as well. "That’s my way of saying hello."

Jimmy narrowed his eyes and he looked over to Bobby. "What are you even doing here with him?"

"It’s a long story," Bobby said and tried to smile. "Okay, how about we go inside to talk? I know a family reunion is always fun but we should… you know. Sit down."

Jimmy looked between the two of them. "Are you fucking?"

"No!" Bobby screamed.

"Kind of," Daken said at the same time.

Bobby glared at Daken. "Not helping! No, we’re not."

"I don’t care actually." Jimmy ran his hand through his blond hair. "Fuck off and leave me alone. I’m better—"

"Alone?" Bobby wanted to laugh. He was a lot like his father in that regard. He looked a lot like him as well. It was way easier to see Logan in Jimmy, or Laura and Gabby, than in Daken. But he knew Logan. He knew what he said and what he did were different things. Logan, who worked in teams, who looked after the girls, who cared so much, who ran a school, who might not always have the best words but still manage to help. Maybe if Jimmy was anything like his father from this earth, he’d hear them out.

But Daken was also his father’s son and he was nothing like Logan. And he didn’t see Logan in the same light either.

"Okay, let’s leave," Daken said.

"You knew he’d turn us down," Bobby said when he saw the expression in Daken’s face. He didn’t seem to care at all. "Did you suggest Jimmy because you knew he wouldn’t want to work with us?"

"You’re annoying and won’t get off of my back," he said, "I’m fine doing it alone. Or just with you."

Bobby ignored the way he felt when he heard the last words. "Jimmy, it’s about your brother."

"I don’t have a brother," Jimmy said.

"What about me?" Daken asked with a smirk dancing on his lips. Jimmy glared at him.

"You’re not my brother," he said. "I’m not even from this earth."

"Not this brother. Your other brother," Bobby explained.

Jimmy blinked. "This world?"

"Yes."

Jimmy started counting with his fingers. "Hold on, how many kids does your Logan even have running around? The fuck is wrong with that man?"

Bobby laughed. The other two boys looked at him strangely. "C’mon. You’re alike, don’t you see? Why don’t you just get along?"

"He tried to kill me. And just _stabbed_ me," Jimmy said and pointed at his shoulder. It was already starting to heal itself again.

"Oh, don’t whine," Daken said, "that was a scratch."

"Whatever. I don’t have a brother. I didn’t even know the Logan from my earth and you expect me to see kids of yours as family?" Jimmy pinched the bridge of his nose.

"This one’s different," Bobby said.

"Oh, let me guess. He doesn’t have claws. Or he has _four_ claws. Five?"

"He’s a toddler," Daken said. "And he was kidnapped."

Jimmy froze and looked at Bobby. "He has a _baby_?"

"He doesn’t know it," Bobby said.

Jimmy groaned and threw his hands up. "Fine. Let’s go inside."

* * *

Jimmy didn’t seem to like that Daken and Bobby just took his food but he didn’t say anything. The pumpkin soup was actually good and Bobby was surprised Jimmy could cook. Jimmy just sat and listened as Bobby explained to him what was going on with a grim expression.

"So." Jimmy drummed with his fingers on the table and leaned forward. "Do I get it right, there’s a child from Mystique and Wolverine and neither of them knows that it’s their child you guys took? And now that guy… Romulus got the kid because he’s, what, obsessed with Wolverine kids? And you want me to help you?"

Daken clenched his fist. "You going to help us or not?"

"Why me? Why don’t you ask someone else? Literally _anyone_ else?"

"He’s also your brother," Bobby said. "You’re family."

Jimmy looked out of the window. "Blood doesn’t make family," he said, "Logan isn’t my father. The people who raised me are dead."

Daken whistled. "Boohoo, get over it. We all have our tragic backstories."

Bobby raised his hand. "Does mine count or is it just your typical Teen boy finds out he’s a mutant and is hated by everyone story?"

Daken rolled his eyes but there was a small smile on his lips. "He’s not my father either," he said. "But blood runs strong. And every child of Wolverine, especially one of him _and_ Mystique won’t live in peace anyway. How was it for you? How old were you when they got you? I know your heritage caught you eventually, didn’t it? We’re not safe, none of us are. A curse dear old daddy gave us."

Jimmy’s eye twitched. "I get why you don’t want to tell him, but Laura exists. And the small one, Gabby. I haven’t met them but…"

Daken groaned and leaned back. "You in or not?"

"I’m in," Jimmy said. "Though I told myself I won’t be teaming up with any family members anymore. Especially not brothers."

"Because of him?" Bobby asked. "C’mon, he’s not that bad. He’s…" He glanced at Daken, trying to find words but they got stuck in the back of his throat when he noticed the way Daken looked at him.

"You sure you’re not fucking?" Jimmy asked and pointed between them.

"He wishes," Bobby said.

" _I_ wish? I remember a certain one jumping on my l—"

"Anyway!" Bobby clapped in his hands to quickly change the topic.

"Did you team up with him?" Daken asked and leaned forward. Jimmy’s eyes widened.

"Who?"

"You know. The fast one."

Jimmy lunged forward. "How do you know? I didn’t tell anyone!"

Daken smirked. "So it _is_ supposed to be a secret."

"I wouldn’t want anyone to know who my father is but it’s not like I can _hide_ it. I don’t need that side of my family to pester me on this world too," Jimmy said and made a face.

"Who?" Bobby looked between the brothers. Daken had mentioned Jimmy’s mother before and now he was sure it was someone he knew. "It’s not Mystique as well, right?"

"No."

"Jean?"

"No!"

"Right, you had a thing. Uhm. It can’t be Ororo, how about—"

"It doesn’t matter," Jimmy quickly said. Bobby studied his face. He had a lot of Logan in him but he was so much younger. He was barely a man. Maybe nineteen, twenty? Less? Bobby wasn’t so sure but he still had a certain softness in his face that Daken didn’t have. He tried to find a familiar face in Jimmy’s but he couldn’t. He wasn’t an exact copy of Logan but right now there was no one else he could see.

"Okay," Bobby said after a while and leaned back in his seat. "I suppose you’re right."

Jimmy hadn’t been raised by his biological parents, Jimmy had other people he saw as his parents and family. And if his mother’s side of the family wasn’t haunting him as his fathers did, it didn’t matter.

* * *

Bobby wasn’t sure if there weren’t any other bedroom on this farm or if Jimmy was still convinced him and Daken were an item, but he gave them a bedroom with a double bed.

Daken didn’t say anything about it and Bobby supposed it wasn’t that different anyway. He had slept in the same bed with Daken so many times now.

"You know," Bobby said when Daken went under the blanket next to him. "I don’t know what’s with you guys. I’d like to have a little brother."

Daken laughed. It didn’t even sound bitter, he genuinely laughed. "A little brother?"

"Yeah. When young Bobby was here, I hung out with him a lot. I mean, I don’t know if it’s because I want to have one or if it’s just because of the person I am but the others didn’t hang out with theirs in the same way I did," Bobby said. "Though I suppose it was hard for Warren. His current self isn’t… well. And Jean was dead. And Scott was kind of a wanted man and. He kind of already has two younger brothers anyway— and Hank got us all in this mess in the first place."

"Snowflake," Daken said, drawing out the nickname Bobby hadn’t heard from him in a while. For the first time, he liked the sound of it. _Snowflake._ "Are you getting to a point?"

"Right. I’m saying that he was like a little brother to me. And I was like a big brother… to me," Bobby said. "I missed him when he was gone. We even visited my parents and they loved him. Young Bobby, untainted by years of X-Men drama."

Daken turned to him. "I’m sure they did," he said. "And I’m sure your little version was very cute but Jimmy isn’t made of the same material you’re mad off."

"You mean ice?"

"Shut up," Daken said but there was no malice in his voice this time either. Bobby laughed. "Besides, he’s the one who doesn’t want me as his brother. Don’t you see how I fondly call him baby brother?"

"You do it to piss him off," Bobby said. "Like the way you call me ‚snowflake‘."

Daken smirked. "We’re way past that now. You like it."

"No, I don’t," Bobby lied.

Daken raised his eyebrows. "You don’t need to lie. I know when you do."

"You don’t," Bobby said, a pitch higher than his usual voice and hoping Daken wouldn’t notice. He did, of course. He groaned. "It’s ridiculous, I know. But why do I have to be immune to your powers?"

"What do you mean?" Daken asked.

"At least then I can blame it on that," Bobby explained. The words came out strained but he didn’t regret saying them. Daken’s eyes were locked on him, unreadable.

"Don’t," Daken said. "It’s rather amusing that you react to this even though you’re not affected."

"To you maybe," Bobby said. "Not to me." He shouldn’t be having this conversation with him anyway.

Daken didn’t say anything for a while like he was lost in thought. He reached his hand out and Bobby didn’t even dare to move. He let Daken touch him, let him move his hands over his skin, his fingers glide from his cheekbones down to his jaw. "It’s not just amusing," he said quietly.

"What?" Bobby asked.

"I don’t like it because it’s amusing to me," Daken said, moving his hand lower. Bobby’s heart was beating faster now. Daken’s eyes were lowering as well and Bobby held his breath. "I don’t actually find amusement in messing with people like that."

"You don’t?" Bobby asked.

"When I need something from them, yes," Daken said, "I don’t really need something from you."

"I do," Bobby blurted out when Daken’s hand reached his waist. He needed something.

Daken’s lips curled upwards into a smirk. And that something was something he could only get from Daken, who didn’t mind at all to give. He grabbed Bobby’s waist in a firm grip and pulled Bobby towards him, holding his body against him. Bobby reacted immediately, clinging onto Daken as the other male pressed his lips against Bobby’s.

He had wanted to do this again for so long. Ever since he first tasted Daken’s lips upon his in the car. There was no rush this time, no adrenaline running through their veins. They weren’t even in a cramped old car with a busted window with police hunting them, holding each other in the most uncomfortable position, and Bobby didn’t want to punch Bobby.

They were lying in a rather comfortable bed with no police searching for them, no person anywhere near a mile (except Jimmy downstairs), and Bobby wasn’t frustrated and angry at Daken.

He just needed him, nothing else. Not because he needed to get it out of the system, he just needed Daken because he _wanted_ him.

Despite all of this, their kiss was anything but gentle. They weren’t lovers, they wouldn’t ever be lovers with a forming spark between them. Again, a reminder that they were nothing more than just partners. But Bobby wasn’t concerned about it.

Right now all he could think about was Daken who was moving on top of him, his weight on Bobby’s body, his one hand in Bobby’s bleached hair, the way his other hand moved down Bobby’s body, under his shirt. He could only thing about Daken’s scraping teeth over his lower lip before he bit him slightly, and the gasp that escaped Bobby’s mouth, about the slight stubble on Daken’s face when Bobby cupped it, or the way his back muscles moved under Bobby’s hands.

"We’re not fucking, Jimmy," Jimmy’s voice appeared, interrupting them, "we’re only partners. We’re only together because we want to get our baby brother back." He was mocking them with a slightly higher tone.

Daken got off of Bobby but not quickly. Bobby froze when he saw Jimmy at the door.

"I called bullshit, I knew it." Jimmy shook his head.

Daken still didn’t look at Jimmy. His eyes were resting on Bobby and again with an unreadable expression. What was he thinking? "What do you want?" Daken asked.

"Shouldn’t you have smelt me coming? Or were you too preoccupied? Whatever, I don’t care. I got your X-Men on the phone." Jimmy raised his phone.

Bobby blushed hard. "They heard this, didn’t they?"

"Yeah," Jimmy said.

"They think we’re dating anyway," Daken said quietly. "Talk to them. I’m going outside." He got off of the bed and walked past Jimmy. He took the phone in his hand. "Next time, don’t interrupt us," he said and then threw the phone to Bobby.

Bobby caught it quickly and cursed Daken. Stupid idiot. But he was angrier at Jimmy and whoever called them to interrupt them.

"You," Daken said, "we’re fighting."

"What?" Jimmy asked, confused.

"Outside." Daken just dragged his brother with him and Bobby sighed. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for the call. "Hi?"

"I really hoped you weren’t actually dating Daken," Kitty’s voice came on the other side.

"It’s… complicated," Daken said.

"Really? What were you about to do? No, don’t answer that." She sighed. "I heard you’re in the states again."

He thought about Raze. They didn’t know they lost the child. "How did you know we’re here?"

"We got the Avengers on our ass," she explained, "they know you landed as well and luckily came to us first before they got to you. You do know that you still kidnapped a child, right?"

And then they lost said child again. "I… I know. We’ll come, in. Tomorrow. No, the day after tomorrow." If everything would turn out okay.

"Is everything okay?" Kitty asked concerned.

No, nothing was okay. Tenma was dead and Raze was gone and all Bobby just had been able to think about was to get into Daken’s pants. "Yes," he lied instead. "Everything is fine."

"Don’t make me get Ororo," Kitty said, "answering to her won’t be as fun as to me."

Bobby winced. She was right. He wouldn’t be able to lie to her, she’d know.

"Or Logan. You know all hell would be loose."

He could only imagine how a phonecall with Logan would go. "Everything will be okay again when we come back," Bobby promised. He’d get his life back and part ways with Daken and he didn’t have to have those confusing thoughts anymore.

"Right. Will Daken move in with us? Become an X-Men?"

"Kitty…"

"I’m sorry," she said. "He’s not the worst boyfriend one can have. Just didn’t imagine he would be the type to have one."

He wasn’t. "I’ll call you tomorrow," Bobby promised. "Then we can figure everything out."

"Bring him here too," Kitty said, "don’t you dare drop in alone. And… Laura asked for him too. She misses him."

Bobby smiled. "He misses her too."

"Did he say that?"

"He doesn’t have to," Bobby said and Kitty laughed.

"She didn’t say it either. But she didn’t need to either."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the way i miss jimmy and the rest of the sniktfam..


	13. 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a bit short but. Daken's pov yay

Jimmy had been right. Daken should’ve known he was coming. He should have known his younger brother was approaching them but Daken had let his guard down. Since when? Since they sank in bed next to each other, or when he listened to Bobby talk about his younger self like a brother, or when Bobby quietly admitted that he was attracted to Daken? Or had it been the moment when Daken pulled him closer and they kissed again for the first time since that night?

He wasn’t so sure but he knew it wasn’t right.

Letting your guard down never was. He didn’t want _friends._ He had just spent way too much time with Bobby and listened to him for too long. Which should make him more annoying than he was but there was something about the other male that was amusing to Daken. And when he looked at Bobby he wanted so often for him to let his guard down as well.

It wasn’t like with Johnny. Johnny had accepted him unlike any other. One would think Bobby would do so as well but he had been on edge around Daken since the start. Probably because of their history. At first, Daken just wanted to get under his skin. Push the right buttons for him to snap. And god, when he did, it had been beautiful. When Bobby snapped at him and then kissed him so hard with a passion that took the air out of Daken’s lungs, it had all been worth it.

But this just now? That wasn’t because Daken wanted to push Bobby’s buttons to make him angry. He wasn’t sure what it had been supposed to be. He just knew that he wanted it to happen again.

Jimmy leaned against a huge oak tree and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Listen, just because I walked into the two of you doesn’t mean I want to fight you."

His brother pushed back some golden strands out of his hair. Even though out of them all, he was the one who looked most like Logan, he was the only one with such light hair.

"You think I’m mad about that?"

"That I interrupted you and your lover boy? Yes," Jimmy replied and shrugged. "Why else would you drag me out to fight me?!" He gestured to the night sky.

Daken gritted his teeth. "He stopped us before but not this time," he said and his claws came out with a _snikt_. "You might have a fancy new companion with you but how well can you actually control it? And I got years on you, kid."

Jimmy sighed and pushed himself from the tree. "Fine," he said. "But just so you know, we’ve got better. I don’t control them, we work _together._ "

Daken laughed. "You talk like your symbiote’s your lover," he said. "Don’t forget what it is. What it makes you. Never." The last part was more to himself than anyone else but Jimmy just attacked him.

This was exactly what he needed. To fight Jimmy under the night sky. He wasn’t wrong, the symbiote and he worked well, they were one unit. He didn’t go easy on Daken, but neither did Daken. He needed this, to just let himself run free because he’s been holding back for too long ever since he’s been traveling with Bobby. But he didn’t need to hold back with Jimmy. It wasn’t like he would die anyway and Daken liked that Jimmy didn’t ask questions. Maybe he just thought Daken was crazy and just wanted to punch him for no reason because that’s just how he was.

After a long fight where they both ended bleeding way too much for it to be just a normal sparring session, they both collapsed on the field. Daken stared in the night sky.

For a short moment it had helped, to just let go and not think about Bobby but here he was again, lying on his back staring at the stars above them. There were so many of them, shining so brightly in the countryside, unlike in the city. He remembered the first night at Tenma when Bobby and he sparred on the rooftop. He remembered exactly how fast Bobby’s heart had been beating when Daken straddled his thighs and leaned down to whisper in his ear. He remembered the way his breath hitched and how hot his skin felt.

Thinking about Bobby was wrong. Not in that way.

But it was better than to think about Tenma.

"So," Jimmy said, his voice breathless, "got that out of your system?"

"Yes," Daken said. They didn’t say anything for a while. Jimmy didn’t seem like the most talkative guy.

"Are you disappointed I didn’t turn you down?"

"What?"

"I’m not stupid." Jimmy got up and stared down at one of the stab wounds on his arms Daken had inflicted on him. He bit down on his lower lips. "Iceman, he didn’t want you to do this alone. And you went to me because you thought I’d say no."

Daken put his arms behind his head. "It doesn’t matter anymore," he replied.

Jimmy eyed him and Daken tried to find any traces of his mother in him. It was what he tried to do as well sometimes when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. A reminder that he wasn’t just Logan’s son.

"How did you know? About… who my mother is?"

Daken lifted the hem of his shirt and pointed at the blood.

"You took a DNA test on me?!" Jimmy asked.

"I needed leverage," Daken replied. Jimmy shook his head in disbelief and clicked his tongue.

"I’ve never met her. Or my father either. I haven’t met any of you, except you and that other old guy from the other universe," Jimmy said.

"Gabby would love you," Daken said. His mind wandered to the two girls. "She likes everyone though."

"Where did she get that from?" Jimmy asked.

"Unlike us, her childhood wasn’t fucked up."

"Mine wasn’t either. I didn’t even know I was any different until I was sixteen," Jimmy said. Then he looked away. "Forget it. We’re not brothers, I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. You’re still a crazy maniac."

Daken let out an amused chuckle. "Is that what you think of me?"

"You wanted to kill us," Jimmy hissed, his voice shifting in a different tone. It was the symbiote talking with him. "Because of Poison. And yet you walk around with that damn Death Seed."

Daken clenched his fists behind his head. "What do you think I keep the pretty boy around?"

Jimmy seemed confused for a second. "You mean _Bobby_?" He ran his hand through his face. "I thought you were dating."

Daken sat up slowly as well. There was still a pain on the side of his torso from Poison biting him, the teeth marks slowly closing. "What if we were?"

"When I first met these guys, I didn’t remember shit. But after I went away, the memories were slowly coming back. He and I… Bobby and I were friends," Jimmy said quietly. "He was like a brother to me. We lived together."

Daken raised his eyebrows. He was surprised by this. He didn’t expect his brother to have had a soft spot for the snowflake as well. He barely knew him, he realized. He knew about his parents, yes. He assumed things but he didn’t know anything apart from that. Did he want to know? He wanted to hear more about it though. About the other Bobby.

And Daken didn’t like that feeling. The feeling of wanting to know about a random Bobby from another Earth that didn’t exist anymore.

Jimmy looked to the window which still had its lights on. It was the bedroom he had given Daken and Bobby. "He’s not my Bobby, he’s like ten years older, but he’s still too good for you."

"You think I don’t know that?" Daken asked. "Don’t need to give me the shovel talk, baby brother. I’m not intending to do anything."

Jimmy snorted. "Right. What did I walk in? I’m sure you wouldn’t have done anything."

"Don’t interrupt us next time," Daken said.

"Hell no, there’s not going to be a next time! After we get Raze back, you go to the X-Men and I go back here away from you bunch."

Daken laughed at the way Jimmy said it, appalled by just the thought of being together with the X-Men again. "What, you don’t want a family reunion?"

"I only ever had one and that was awful," Jimmy said. "And I feel like this side of the family is worse."

"What was so wrong with the speedster?"

"Everything."

"Worse than me?"

Jimmy stared at him. "I don’t know yet."

"I’m not going to the X-Men either," Daken said quietly. "I’ll take Raze away."

"Bobby’s not going to let that happen."

"I’m not giving Raze to him," he decided.

"What, you’re just going to raise him yourself? You’d make a horrible father."

Daken knew that. He wouldn’t keep a child around him either. "What about you?"

"You want me to raise him? No. No, way. I’m like twenty. Or nineteen. I think… I’m not even sure about my age." He shook his head. "I don’t know what happened to you and the old man but you can’t keep Raze away from him. He’ll find out eventually. And his mother gave him away, she wouldn’t take him back in."

Jimmy got up and examined his body. All his wounds were healed already. He was healing faster than Daken he noticed. Maybe it was because of Poison.

"This," Jimmy said, "doesn’t make us brothers."

"I’ll keep on calling you it though," Daken said, "because it pisses you off so much."

Jimmy furrowed his brows. "You’re annoying," he said and left Daken with his thoughts alone again.

He knew Jimmy was right. He couldn’t keep Raze but he couldn’t give Raze to Logan either. And of course, he couldn’t let Romulus have him. It wasn’t his right to decide for Raze’s future but nobody else thought of the bigger picture. And nobody knew how dangerous Romulus was. Daken knew he wouldn’t hurt Raze now but his entire being was boiling of anger at the thought that the child was with him right now.

They had to be successful. If he failed… He wouldn’t fail. Not even death could stop him, he’d just come back. There was no way he would let someone else go through the same thing he did under Romulus’ hands. No other child. Did that make him a good guy? Daken didn’t like to think so.

* * *

He stayed for another hour until he got up and went back inside. Bobby was still in the bed when Daken walked in. He didn’t turn on the light but he could tell Bobby was still awake.

"Did you shower?" Bobby asked and reached his hand out to touch Daken’s wet hair. As soon as he noticed what he was doing, he flinched and pulled his hand back quickly.

"I got blood on me," Daken said, pushing the desire of just taking Bobby’s hand back and letting it rest on him away.

"Yours or Jimmy’s?"

"Both. Isn’t much of a difference," Daken said and crawled under the sheets.

"You just went out and stabbed the hell out of each other? You do know something like Family Therapy exists, right?"

Daken rolled his eyes but he couldn’t help but smile. "Please, we all could use some therapy."

Bobby hummed. "Maybe we should get therapy," he said. "Couple’s therapy so you don’t just leave me to stab your brother in the backyard for no reason at all."

"Please, that’s the least of your problems. What else is there even to complain?"

"I can think of a few things," Bobby said.

"Not counting making you kidnap a child," Daken said.

Through the darkness, he could still see the outlines of Bobby’s face. His eyes open, studying Daken, his lips slightly parted, his jawline Daken wanted to trace with his fingers. There was a pause too heavy and long for Bobby to be able to play it off.

Daken knew they were walking on a thin line.

"Forget it," Bobby said.

He shouldn’t ask. "Forget what?"

Bobby lied down and turned away, showing his back to Daken. "Just. Forget it," Bobby said.

"The kiss?" Daken leaned closer. His sense of smell was always good but this close, Bobby’s scent was enchanting him. He wanted him, and he knew Bobby wanted him as well.

"Everything," Bobby said. "This… us." He looked up to meet Daken’s eyes.

"There’s no ‚us‘," Daken said.

Bobby’s voice became weaker. "Exactly." He sighed. "Go to sleep, Daken. Tomorrow’s a big day."

Daken grunted and turned away and lied down. He stared at the ceiling and then glanced over to Bobby who still had his back turned to him.

"Laura says hi," Bobby suddenly said, "she misses you."

He missed her as well. He didn’t say it but he was sure he didn’t have to. "I’ll visit her," he promised.

"Take Jimmy with you," Bobby said. "He could use some friends. He’s too emo. And Gabby would be thrilled about more family members. I mean it. I can accept him walking around with cowboy boots but I draw the line at listening to Johnny Cash and brooding."

Daken grinned. "You think Laura would get along with someone that listens to Johnny Cash? She’d ban him if he ever introduces it to Gabby."

Bobby shrugged and turned on his back. "Who knows, maybe she’ll find a love for it too."

"All this tells me is that I have to keep him far away from Raze and Gabby."

Bobby laughed. "I’ll help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody:  
> Me: info dumps about jimmy hudson bc there are like 4.5 stans out there

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on twitter [@hyaened](https://twitter.com/hyaened)
> 
> also my art acc is [@hyaenes](https://twitter.com/hyaenes)  
> and i draw bobbydaken. too often
> 
> also ty to my proofreader... idk what i'd do without u ;o;


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